


Between the Black and White

by AshleyHammondAstroYellow



Category: Power Rangers, Power Rangers Turbo, Power Rangers in Space
Genre: Angst, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-05
Updated: 2019-01-30
Packaged: 2019-02-11 02:05:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Underage
Chapters: 30
Words: 39,707
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12925020
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AshleyHammondAstroYellow/pseuds/AshleyHammondAstroYellow
Summary: In the battle against Dark Spector not everyone is defined by just Good or Evil. Some find themselves in the grey area in between.





	1. Prologue

_ Dislcaimer _ _: I don’t own anything you recognize from the PR series… unfortunately._

 

** Prologue **

A young boy and girl were playing in the park with a ball. Close by a woman sat on a bench, watching them. Suddenly the ball went flying away from the two young children. ‘I’ll get it,’ the boy called and took after it.

The woman’s eyes followed him and widened when she spotted the boy was running in the direction of the road and a vehicle was approaching. Instinctively she sprang up and ran after him. Just before he could run onto the road, she managed to grab hold of his arm and stop him in his track. Seconds later the vehicle rushed by.

She kneeled down and looked her son in the eye. ‘What have I told you about roads?’

‘To always look before I walk,’ the boy replied guiltily.

His mother pulled him into a hug to show she wasn’t mad at him. Then she got back to her feet and took his hand. After looking both ways they crossed the road together to retrieve the ball.

The boy had just picked it up when a high pitched scream rang through the air, followed by a sinister laugh. The woman and her son spun around. The spot where her daughter had been was now empty with no indication where the little girl might have gone off too. Mother and son ran back, another passing vehicle barely able to break in time. The ball now lay forgotten against the curb.

The girl had disappeared without a trace.


	2. Chapter 1

** Chapter 1 **

She cautiously walked into the busy building. Her ears were immediately assaulted by the noise. She looked around, unsure of where to go.

‘They don’t bite,’ a voice spoke behind her, making her jump. ‘Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.’

She spun around and looked up at a tall boy with long brown hair pulled back into a ponytail. ‘That’s okay,’ she flashed him a quick smile. ‘I’m just a little jumpy.’

‘I haven’t seen you around before,’ he noted. ‘Are you new here?’

‘Yeah, I was just looking for..’ she trailed off, wanting to get out of there, but not having a good excuse to get away.

‘The registry office,’ he finished for her. ‘I’ll show you. I’m Tommy, by the way, Tommy Oliver,’ he introduced, holding out his hand to her. She eyed it suspiciously, making him laugh. ‘I don’t bite either. I remember what it’s like being the new kid and how much a friendly face can help put you at ease.’

She took his hand and shook it. ‘Ashley, Ashley Hammond.’

‘Nice to meet you, Ashley. The registry office is right this way. I’ll show you.’

Ashley followed him. He knocked at a door and stepped inside. ‘Good morning, Mrs. Grey,’ he greeted brightly, making Ashley wanting to roll her eyes. He received a grunt in answer, but continued undeterred. ‘I brought a new student.’

‘Ashley Hammond?’ the woman muttered, shifting around some papers.

‘That’s me,’ Ashley stepped forward.

‘Schedule,’ Mrs. Grey grumbled, starting to hand Ashley some of the papers. ‘Map, locker number and combination, and you’ll need to fill out these forms. I’m sure Mr. Oliver will show you where your homeroom is when you’re finished.’

Tommy sighed in defeat beside her when a bell rang at that moment. ‘Yeah, sure. It’s my pleasure.’ He spotted Ashley’s confused look at the form and stepped up next to her. ‘Need help?’

‘Yeah, thanks.’

While they were still in the office a second bell rang, causing Tommy to sigh again. After filling out the form, Tommy lead her back into the hall and checked her schedule. ‘Your homeroom is with Mr. Wilton. He’s one of the science teachers. It’s this way,’ he pointed and laughed at her slightly confused look. ‘You’re not from around here, are you?’

‘No, not exactly,’ Ashley answered, a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. ‘I travelled a lot.’

‘What about school?’ Tommy inquired curiously.

‘Home-schooled and self-taught, mostly,’ Ashley shrugged.

‘Cool, well, this is you,’ Tommy grinned, knocking on a door before opening it. ‘Hello, Mr. Wilton. I was asked to bring you a new student. This is Ashley Hammond.’

‘Thank you, Tommy. Welcome, Ashley, please take a seat.’

Tommy turned to leave, but squeezed Ashley’s shoulder as he passed. ‘Good luck,’ he told her. ‘I’ll see you around.’ He quickly made his way to his own homeroom. The one day he was actually on time for a chance, he still ended up being late.

Ashley watched him leave for a moment, then turned back to the room with gaping students. She rolled her eyes and walked to an empty table. After she sat down Mr. Wilton continued talking ash she studied her schedule with a frown. She still didn’t fully know why she was doing this, or what she was hoping to find.

‘What’s your first class?’ a voice whispered from the seat behind her, shaking her out of her thoughts.

She glanced over her shoulder after checking her schedule. ‘English with Ms. Appleby,’ she whispered back.

‘Me too, I’ll show you where it is. I’m Carlos.’

She glanced over her shoulder again. ‘Ashley.’

‘Mr. Valerte, are you going to pay attention or should I wait while you ask Miss Hammond out?’ Mr. Wilton’s voice rang through the classroom. His classmates sniggered as Carlos turned bright red.

‘I’m paying attention,’ Carlos muttered in reply.

Ashley hid a smirk behind her hand and focused on the teacher’s voice too.

* * *

The sound of his boots hitting the floor echoed through the empty hallways with every step he took. The silence on the ship was always getting to him at times like these. Suddenly the hall filled with noise and he paused, looking up at the red eye mounted on the wall as it blinked at him.

‘Thanks, Deca,’ he smiled sadly. Mentally he heard his friend’s protests about his music taste and how blasting it around the Megaship was offensive. But they weren’t around to voice their protest. He shook the thought clear from his head and continued his way to the bridge.

He moved around the consoles, checking system functions. ‘Deca, warm up the engine,’ he ordered, shrugging off his black uniform jacket and tossing it onto the seat of one of the chairs. Again he could imagine the protests and smiled.

‘The engine is already on standby and ready for lift off,’ Deca replied.

‘Thank you, Deca,’ he grinned, moving to the central back console and placing his hands on the controles. Of course Deca would have anticipated his orders the moment he sat foot back on the ship. ‘Full power to thrusters, lock all doors and raise the heat shields.’

‘Doors locked, shields raised, thrusters to full,’ Deca reported.

‘Engage.’

The ship rocked as it raised off the planet’s surface. It steadied as it rose, gaining more momentum before breaking through the planet’s atmosphere. He let go of the controls and made another round past the consoles.

‘Deca, set a course to the Trida galaxy.’

‘Course set, arriving at the Trida galaxy in approximately 97 hours.’

‘I’ll debrief and then get some sleep. Alert met if anything happens.’

The red light just blinked at him. The AI had mentioned countless times before that his debriefs were pointless, but they made him feel better and a little less alone. He left the bridge and took the lift to the engine room at the heart of the ship. Punching in a code to a wall panel, a hidden door slid open and he stepped into the room. He shivered a little at the cold, but determinedly made his way over to the cryogenic tube in the middle.

‘Hey,’ he greeted, the word coming out with a condensed cloud. ‘So, that’s another slave colony down. I brought them to Xendin for medical care and refuge. I’m sorry, but there was no sign of your twin here either. I won’t give up yet. But it would help a great deal if you’d get your stubborn ass healed already so you can help. You’re the only one left and the Megaship gets bloody lonely with only Deca to talk too.’

The only answer he got was the steady beep of the heart monitor.

‘I should go get some rest now,’ he muttered, placing a hand on his side where a bruise was forming. ‘I’ll be back later.’

He trudged out of the room, his feet dragging. His tiredness was catching up with him. It didn’t help that The Power was trying to lull him to sleep so it could heal the minor injuries he had sustained. He leaned against the wall of the lift as it brought him up to the living courters, blinking furiously to stay awake just a little longer.

He breathed a sigh of relieve when he made it to his room. The door was already opened. He dropped unceremoniously to his bed and let his eyes fall closed. Instantly he drifted off into a restless sleep.


	3. Chapter 2

** Chapter 2 **

_‘Astrae!’_

_A young, skinny girl about seven-years-old hurried down the hall with a plate of food. The voice sounded angrier than usual. Her nose wrinkled in disgust when she approached her master._

_‘You are completely useless, Astrae,’ he growled at her as he snatched the food away._

_‘Who’s fault is that?’ she snapped, her golden eyes flashing. She nimbly sprang back to avoid the hit that was meant to connect to her cheek. If it had, she knew she’d have been flying across the cave. ‘Orion’s being educated and trained,’ she spat, knowing it was a sore spot._

_‘Orion,’ he roared. ‘I don’t see what Dark Spector sees in that scrawny kid. Your species is nothing special.’_

_‘Dark Spector seems to think we are,’ she taunted. ‘If properly trained.’_

_She didn’t see the electrical blast coming and was hit with its full force. When it stopped, she lay panting in the dirt, black spots dancing around her vision. Her master was towering over her._

_‘Don’t, ever, talk back to me again,’ he told her and kicked her in the stomach for good measure. ‘And **don’t** think you can tell me what to do.’_

_She saw his silhouette walk away and tried to push herself back up. The effort proved too much and she spit up some blood before passing out._

_Hours later a beeping noise pulled her back to consciousness. With a groan she pushed herself up on hands and knees and crawled over to the com system. She managed to pull herself up on the panel and drop down in the seat, opening communications. The face of a boy about her age appeared on the screen. Ash blonde hair fell down to his chin, crimson eyes studied her intently._

_‘You look like hell,’ he observed._

_‘Orion,’ she nodded. ‘You’re not looking so great yourself either.’ And it was true. He had bruising along his jaw, a black eye that would surely swell shut within the next few hours and scrapes on his cheek._

_‘Rough day of training,’ he smirked. ‘You?’_

_‘I displeased him,’ she matched his smirk. ‘Again.’_

_Astrae ran a hand through her short, jet black hair. ‘So, what have you been doing since we last talked?’ she asked, settling into the seat a bit more comfortably. She didn’t quite manage to supress a wince at the pain shooting through her stomach._

_Orion’s smirk grew, indicating he had noticed. He didn’t mention it, but simply started relaying his lessons to her. She slowly relaxed. Talking to her one ally in the whole universe always had that effect on her. In the end, he was the first to give into the yawns. They said goodbye, promising to talk again soon._

_She turned off the com and dragged herself through the cave system to her little nest in a dark corner of the lair. She was all alone again, she realized. Just the way she liked it best._

_It was a month before she saw her master again. She was in the main cave of their lair working through some simple fight moves that Orion had showed her when they had talked again the night before. They were meant to build up some strength. The moment she heard his footsteps, she dropped to her knees and bowed low. Her eyes were kept on the dirt floor directly in front of her. His feet stopped in her line of sight. She watched them, waiting for the blow she was sure would come._

_Instead, a datapad was dropped to the dirt floor between them. ‘You want to prove you’re so special? Learn from this and if you manage to prove you’ve got use after all… I might consider training you,’ he growled at her. ‘I trust that grovelling merchant on Onyx taught you to read?’_

_‘Yes, master,’ she told the dirt. ‘I will not disappoint you,’ she promised, a grin spreading on her face. Somehow she felt like she just won a battle._

_That night she lay curled up in her nest, clutching the datapad as if it was the most precious thing in the whole universe. She’d fiddled around with it the first chance she had had and found that somehow, it contained a copy of the full Eltaran education system. Simple sums were drawn into the dirt next to her nest. Pride swelled in her chest that she’d only made two mistakes in them._

_She was going to work hard on this so she could be the useful ally to Orion that Dark Spector intended her to be._

* * *

_Orion lay on his back in his bed, staring at the ceiling. The sound of the foot soldiers moving around kept him from sleep. He hated being here and he hated his teacher._

_His thoughts turned to Astrae. He wasn’t sure who had it worse. He couldn’t remember how they met. All he knew was always talking to her. Once he’d heard his trainer complaining about it and from that he’d learned a valuable piece of information. Apparently Dark Spector endorsed the contact, something about Astrae being a perfect ally for him. He made sure to rub that in whenever his teacher or her master tried to stop their calls._

_He bolted up in bed when the door slid open and he glared at the monster standing in the opening, his trainer._

_‘You should be asleep.’_

_‘Tell those tin cans of yours to be quiet then,’ he spat. ‘What are you doing here anyway? Trying to kill me?’_

_‘That doesn’t concern you.’_

_‘I think it does, it’s my room.’_

_Before he could react, his trainer had rushed forward. A hand wrapped around his neck and he was lifted up and slammed against the wall. He clawed at the hand, already feeling the need for oxygen rise._

_‘Now listen here, you little brat,’ his trainer growled in his ear. ‘The only reason you are still alive is because Dark Spector wants it. But don’t go thinking you can’t be replaced if some unfortunate accident should happen during training. Is that understood?’_

_Orion weakly nodded, black edges appearing around his vision. He was released and crumpled to the bed, gasping for air. The door slid shut and he was alone in the dark. Angry tears stung his eyes as he lay back down, staring at the wall with his back to the door._

_He would do as he was told for now in order to survive. But he swore that the day he was strong enough, he would be out of here. He would free Astrea too and they would roam the universe together._


	4. Chapter 3

** Chapter 3 **

Fingers snapped in front of her face and she turned her head back from the Juice Bar floor to the person sitting in front of her.

‘What?’

‘You’re not going to pick up that history grade by day dreaming,’ Carlos grinned.

‘History sucks. Who cares about what a bunch of dead people did anyway?’

‘The teachers do.’

Ashley glared at him, but focused on her book again. She hated history with a passion, but when Carlos had offered to help her study to get a passing grade, she wasn’t about to complain. Since the day she’d arrived at Angel Grove High, he’d helped her out where needed. She’d been in town for three months now and he would always invite her to hang out with his friends, making sure she was included by people.

His hand on hers snapped her out of her thoughts. She caught his eye and he grinned at her again. ‘Less tapping that pen, more reading the pages,’ he winked.

She made a face and stuck out her tongue. Again turning her attention back to the pages of her book. She tried to concentrate, but the words were starting to blur together. Her frustration quickly rose. Eventually, she couldn’t take it anymore and slammed the book closed.

Carlos nearly jumped out of his chair and looked at her surprised. ‘Where are you going?’ he asked.

‘Away,’ she grumbled and stuffed her book back in her bag. ‘I’m fed up with this. What’s the use knowing the 16th president was Abraham Lincoln or that Nixon was forced to retire because of some scandal? What use will that knowledge be in the future?’

‘But know you know and it might get you a passing grade on that history test tomorrow. That might be a use for the immediate future.’ Carlos’s voice stopped her in her tracks as she was leaving. ‘At least you are improving.’

She turned back around, a small smile on her lips. ‘It’s still useless.’

‘So is geometry.’

‘Thanks.’

‘What are friends for?’ Carlos smiled broadly.

‘Right.’

‘Speaking of which, a bunch of us are going to the movies this weekend. Do you want to join us?’

Ashley hesitated for a moment, but shook her head. ‘I’ve already got other plans.’

‘Oh.’ Carlos’s face fell a little.

‘Maybe some other time?’

‘Yeah, maybe.’

* * *

His blade sliced another Quantron to pieces. The ranger grunted when a Q-blade struck his back and he stumbled. His weapon pierced a Quantron whom happened to get in the way.

The things weren’t programmed to be smart, he reflected as he caught himself and threw himself back into the fight. They weren’t particularly good fighters either, but overwhelmed by sheer numbers their opponents would be defeated when exhaustion started taking its toll.

Normally Deca would be giving him air support with the Megaship’s lasers, but right now it was under attack by the Dark Fortress. A new strategy that was far too effective. He felt his limbs grow heavy and his breath turned laborious. It this didn’t end soon even the Power wouldn’t be able to help him go on.

Suddenly the Quantrons disappeared and he was hit by a blast of magic from behind. It was more than his beaten body would handle and it crashed onto the ground. Certain his end was near, footsteps sounded, coming closer. He felt the owners stop next to him and turned his head too look at the two pair of feet. One person crouched down and moved their face close to his helmet.

‘We will meet again, Silver Ranger. This isn’t over yet,’ the malevolent voice hissed near his ear. Raising to their feet again, they turned to their companion and ordered. ‘Come, Ecliptor.’

The two disappeared and moments later the ranger himself disappeared in a shower of sparkles.

The metal floor that appeared beneath him was vibrating. He knew the feeling all too well. The Megaship was entering hyper rush, taking him far away from the site of battle. Allowing himself a few minutes to catch his breath, he finally pushed off the floor and demorphed. His body was aching all over, but that was a concern for later.

‘Damage report, Deca.’

‘Damage sustained to Megadecks 4 to 6, engines are running on their auxiliary power and systems are failing throughout the ship,’ the AI replied.

‘How much longer can we maintain hyper rush velocity?’

‘Five minutes and twenty-three seconds.’

‘I’ll check the engines first. Are any of the other failing systems strictly necessary for the ship to fly?’

‘Negative.’

He nodded and made his way to the engine room. The lights in the room were low and sparks were flying from several panels and severed wires. Multiple wiring tubes at the top of the main engine had come loose. Telepathically he reached out and the tubes reattached themselves into their proper slots. The sounds around him changed and vibrations stopped, alerting him the ship had dropped out of hyper rush. They were now just floating in space. All auxiliary power for the engines had been spend getting as much distance between them and the Dark Fortress as was currently possible.

With a sigh he pried open a panel and set to temporarily taping wires back together until he had the time to completely replace them. Time crept by unnoticed and repairs progressed slowly, but finally the main engine hummed back to life.

‘Deca, get us moving again. I don’t care where to or how fast.’

‘Affirmative, Zhane.’

The silver ranger gave her eye a small smile and turned to leave when a small gap in the wall caught his attention. He’d been so focused on the engine repair before that he hadn’t noticed it.

A cold shiver ran up his spine. His feet carried him over, fingers digging into the gap. The door gave way much easier than it should’ve. The cold of the room seeped out and seemed to wrap itself around his heart. It was blatantly obvious something was wrong. The beep of the heart monitor came less frequent than it should and it was slowing down further as he stood there.

In two quick strides Zhane stood next to the cryotube, staring down at the peaceful looking, frozen face inside.

‘Don’t do this to me,’ he pleaded. ‘Please? Not now. You’re my best friend.’

A flat line was his only answer.

He slammed his fists onto the cover and fell to his knees. The pain was overwhelming, constricting around his chest and squeezing out the air.

‘You can’t leave me,’ he sobbed. ‘I can’t do this without you! Deca, why didn’t you warn me?’

‘The systems in the cryogenic chamber are not necessary for the ship to fly.’

‘It’s my fault…’

The knowledge weighed too heavy on him. His eyes rolled back as darkness consumed his world.


	5. Chapter 4

** Chapter 4 **

_Golden eyes stared at the card table intently. Astrae had grown several inches in the past year. She had also put on some weight and muscle and a slight tan was now colouring her exposed skin. The young girl stood proud and tall next to her master. She had quickly managed to prove her worth after receiving the datapad and he had started training her. She also joined him on most of his jobs._

_They were now on Onyx, hoping to pick up another one. In the meantime her master was betting his pay from the previous job at the card tables in the tavern. She was tasked with making sure he wasn’t being cheated. Her face was kept perfectly blank, but inside she was smirking. Of course he was being cheated, he was cheating himself too. As long as he was winning, however, there was no use calling anyone out just yet._

_She tensed when the game ended and all hands were called. Her eyes studied each hand as it was placed on the table. Astrae relaxed a little when her master’s hand beat all hands already on the table. With only one last monster left to show his hand, chances of it winning were low._

_The large monster smirked as he placed the last cards on the table. ‘I believe I win this one.’_

_Before anyone could blink, Astrae leaped onto the table, golden sparks of magic crackling between her fingers. ‘You cheated!’ she accused._

_‘I did not. Know your place, filthy little slave,’ the monster spat._

_Astrae shot forward, striking so her palm contacted with his chest. The monster fell back, convulsing and screaming in pain. She held onto his vest with her other hand and landed on his stomach. Pulling her hand off his chest, she used it to reach into the vest as he lay panting and immobile on the floor. Triumphantly Astrae pulled three playing card out and waved them in front of his face. ‘Not cheating, right?’_

_Protests and angry voices rose around her. She quickly rolled away before the hoard of angry monsters descended on each other. Ducking between legs she circled the table and pulled out a sack from her pocket. No one noticed her clearing the winnings off the table. A quick look around the tavern assured her no one was watching her. Everyone was too busy fighting each other to notice her small form. Quick as she could she cleared the other two gambling tables too. Quietly she slipped through the fighting crowd and up the stairs. Crouching low Astrae made her way over the landing to the door at the end. Her master would know where to find her when they would leave._

_She knocked trice on the door, waited two seconds, then knocked twice more._

_The door opened just wide enough for her to slip through. Her eyes took a moment to adjust to the light in the dimly light room._

_‘Astrae,’ a voice rasped from the direction of the closed door._

_‘Cardon,’ she acknowledged, not turning around. Instead she studied the treasures gathered in the room._

_‘See anything you like?’_

_‘Not really,’ the girl shrugged, stepping forward and tracing her free hand over a large shield._

_Cardon moved away from the door and back to his desk. All the while he kept a close eye on her. ‘It’s been a while since there was such a massive fight down below. What happened?’_

_‘I did,’ she answered, but didn’t elaborate. Instead she dropped the bag she was holding and crouched down next to it, sifting through it and putting the most valuable looking items in the pockets of her jumpsuit._

_‘Won’t he miss those?’_

_‘I pillaged two other tables, it’s already more than he’s expecting. A few things won’t be missed,’ Astrae shrugged again._

_Cardon watched her work for a moment more. The young girl was certainly like no one he’d ever encountered before, her unknown origin adding to the mystery. Most people would think bigger was better, but she already knew to identify the smaller valuable pieces she could hide in her clothing. There was no doubt in his mind she’d make it on her own as soon as she was able. This girl was a survivor._

_He shook out of his thoughts when he realized her intelligent golden eyes were staring straight back at him. Her head cocked a little once she noticed he spotted her._

_‘You remind me of someone,’ he explained._

_‘Who?’_

_‘Me,’ he smiled, though he knew she couldn’t see his face. Cardon hesitated a moment. ‘Come here for a bit, I’ve got something to show you.’_

_Astrae straightened and picked up her bag of loot. When she was standing next to him, he pulled open a drawer and produced a shard of crystal on a string necklace. Her eyes grew wide as she watched it. Even in the dim light it seemed to sparkle. He held it out to her and she carefully took it from him._

_‘It’s pretty,’ she breathed._

_‘Do you want it?’ the words tumbled from his mouth before he could stop himself._

_Her eyes grew even wider and she nodded slowly. ‘How much?’ she held out the bag to him._

_Cardon pushed it away and shook his head. ‘There are things more valuable in the universe than anything you can put in that bag.’_

_‘What are those?’_

_He knew he’d piqued her interest and took the shard back from her. ‘Information and a person in debt to you, but…’ he told her, waiting a moment for effect. ‘You can have it with me getting nothing in return. If you promise never to sell it for any reason.’_

_Astrae was watching him, her mouth hanging opened. Cardon watched her process the information he’d just given her, weighing out its worth. Eventually, she slowly nodded. He slipped the makeshift necklace over her head, then tugged the crystal into her collar._

_‘Why?’ she finally asked. ‘Why would you give it to me without getting anything in return?’_

_Cardon opened his mouth to answer when he was interrupted by a pounding on the door._

_‘Astrae! I know you’re in there. We’re leaving,’ the voice of her master sounded loudly through the wood._

_Cardon watched her face turn back into a blank mask with a little sadness. ‘Go on,’ he urged. ‘Don’t keep him waiting.’_

_The girl gave him one court nod and ran to the door with her bag of loot. As she let herself out, he couldn’t help but wonder if he’d done the right thing in gifting her the crystal. But, he told himself, no one would ever think to look for it there. It would be safe._


	6. Chapter 5

** Chapter 5 **

The first thing he was aware of was the steady beeping noise. The second thing he noticed was being warm, if not entirely comfortable. When his mind realized he wasn’t feeling any pain. Zhane’s eyes shot open and he bolted upright, feeling something fall off him and pool in his lap.

‘Whoa, slow down,’ a melodic voice told him.

His mouth fell open as his eyes caught sight of the other person in the room. ‘Karone?’ he chocked, his voice a little raspy.

‘You got pretty badly hurt,’ she continued, walking over to the patientbed. ‘And passing out in the cryo chamber didn’t help much.’

‘Me hurt badly? You died!’

‘But I didn’t,’ she cut him off. ‘Now, before I give you the next dose of pain meds. I’ve got one question.’

‘What?’

‘What did you do to my ship?’ Their noses were almost touching now. The angry fire in her eyes had Zhane frozen in place. He could feel her warm breath on his lips and nearly lost all coherent thought.

‘I… I… I wasn’t even on the ship,’ he stammered. ‘Deca handled the fight with the Dark Fortress. I was down on some planet’s surface getting my ass handed to me under the watchful eye of Orion and Ecliptor.’

‘Excuses,’ she glared. ‘Do you have any idea how much work these repairs are going to be?’

‘Less work than before now you’re back. I’ve been running and repairing the ship on my own for over a year now.’

Her expression softened a little, a trace of guilt creeping into her eyes. ‘Yeah, Deca mentioned something like that. You should’ve taken a bit better care of yourself though. I had to drag you here to patch you up while my muscles were still weak from stasis. I didn’t even have my morpher to help me out. Where is that anyway?’

‘The megavault,’ he answered. ‘Along with the other astro morphers. Deca could’ve told you that. And you didn’t have to drag me here.’

‘Yes, I did. Hypothermia was the last thing you needed,’ she argued.

Only now did it register that the thing which had fallen off him was a thick blanket. Zhane tore his eyes away from hers and stared at his lap. ‘Sorry, it’s been rough since the evacuation.’

Karone stepped away for a moment. When she returned there was a shot of painkillers in her hand. Silently she rolled up the short sleeve of his shirt so she could reach the right spot to administer it. Zhane sighed in relieve as the drugs entered his system. He hadn’t let it show, but during their conversation, the pain had returned with a vengeance.

‘Rest,’ Karone ordered, putting away the hypospray. ‘We’re on course for Eltar to pick up supplies and materials we’ll need for the repairs. Not everything is carried on the ship.’

He blinked at her. A giggle suddenly escaping his lips. She rolled her eyes at him and walked back over to force him to lay down.

‘You’re pretty,’ he breathed.

‘And you’re high.’

Zhane’s hand reached out to tug a stray lock of hair behind her ear. She offered him a small smile. Before she had a chance to react, Zhane leaned in and brushed his lips against hers. Her eyes widened and she had to repress the urge to slap him, reminding herself he was high and didn’t know what he was doing. Instead Karone put her hands on his shoulders and gently pushed him away. Zhane didn’t protest when she guided him to lay down on the bed and tugged the blanket back over him.

‘Sleep,’ she commanded as his eyes fluttered shut. ‘The Power will heal you faster if you do.’

Her fingers unconsciously touched her lips when she was leaving the infirmary to pick up her morpher. She caught herself and laughed, shaking her head. Zhane was high on painkillers right now. It didn’t mean anything.

* * *

The lower levels of the ship were a bustle of activity. Foot soldiers were running to and thro, repairs being made all over. But the foot soldiers were never bright to begin with and now distracted by the repair work, sneaking onto the ship became much too easy. A cloaked figure crept through the shadows and navigated with ease to the upper levels. Their feet barely made any sound on the floor.

A noise up ahead warned someone was approaching and she quickly ducked into an alcove, slinking further into the shadows. A smirk appeared on her lips when she was simply passed by without a single glance her way.

The rest of the way to the bridge was clear. No one was even left to guard it. Sauntering over to a console, her fingers flew over it, pulling up a status report of the ship. A grin spread at what she read. This tin can was a sitting duck for at least another three days. After turning the console off, she turned around and walked to a door in the corner of the bridge. It slid open without a sound, revealing a dark corridor. That didn’t worry her, she could find the way with her eyes closed.

The next door slid open as soundlessly as the last and she found the one person on the ship she was looking for. He lay fast asleep on his back in the bed, chest bare and the sheets tangled around his legs.

She licked her lips at the sight of him. On tiptoes she snuck across the room, shedding her cloak on the way to reveal her skin tight leather clothing. Careful not to wake him until she wanted him to, she climbed onto the bed.

His eyes flew open when she straddled his hips. The blade of a dagger was pressed against her throat before he registered just who had woken him.

‘Astrae.’

‘Orion,’ she answered calmly.

‘Nice of you to drop in.’

‘It wasn’t that hard. You should really do something about the security of this place. Someone might just walk in and steal something. Even Ecliptor walked right past me. Though, with the shape the ship is in, I doubt it really matters. You don’t exactly pose a threat right now to anyone, do you?’

Orion growled at her, which only made her laugh.

‘Did you get it?’ he asked, deciding to change the subject and come straight down to business.

‘Are you kidding me? Mondo got himself blown up by the rangers and is being rebuild still. In the meantime Gasket had shown up, but he was too busy playing with his new red ranger toy and Sprocket and Machina are really too dim-witted to notice a human sneaking around. Getting into their base and stealing blue prints wasn’t even half a challenge. It was even easier than getting in here,’ Astrae yawned, pulling a datadisk from one of the pouches on her belt.

Orion made a grab for it, but she pulled it out of reach and wagged her finger at him.

‘You’re expecting me to hand it over with this pressed against my throat?’ she cocked and eyebrow, pointing at the dagger. ‘You know I don’t hand goods over under threat.’

He shrugged as best as he could in his position and returned the dagger to the nightstand. Astrae handed him the datadisk and watched as he placed it next to the dagger.

‘I also found something else that might interest you as I was poking around their computers,’ she smiled coyly. His crimson eyes bore into her golden ones and she knew his interest was piqued. ‘I found the tech they used on Klank and Orbus to make their monsters grow. Thought you could make it better. If you want it, that is. Otherwise I’m sure I could find a buyer…’

‘I’ll take it,’ he interrupted her. His hands moved to her hips, fingering the pouches at her sides. ‘Where is it?’

She tugged her black hair behind her ear before moving her hands to the top of her bodice. His eyes followed them as she reached in. She felt him stir beneath her when she pulled out the second disk. Bending over him to place it with the other one, she heard him swallow. When she sat back up, his eyes were burning.

‘I’m going to hazard a guess you’re expecting me to pay for them,’ he said, trying to ignore her knowing smile.

‘You know I never work for free,’ Astrae replied, placing a finger between his collar bones. ‘And I expect you, out of all my clients, to pay me quite handsomely,’ she continued, trailing the finger slowly down his chest as she spoke.

She smirked when he flipped them over with growl, pinning her beneath him. His hands left her hips and caught her wrists, moving her arms above her head and holding them there. He moved his mouth next to her ear. ‘Oh, I’ll give you a handsome pay.’


	7. Chapter 6

** Chapter 6 **

_Astrae stared at the crystal shard in her hand. It still shone as brightly as the day Cardon had given it to her, about six months ago now. The shard fascinated her. There was no reason for it to shine. Deep in their lair on her nest light was even more sparse than in Cardon’s office on Onyx and yet the shine never dimmed. It didn’t give off light either, it just always seemed to reflect any available light._

_‘Well, well, what do we have here?’_

_Her blood froze. Astrae had been so lost in thought, she hadn’t heard her master’s approach. He took the shard from her and gave a sharp tug on it. The string necklace snapped from her neck, leaving a burning red line. She knew better than to show any sign of the pain it had caused._

_‘it’s mine,’ she bit at him, making a move to grab it back._

_He backhanded her across the face, knocking her down on her nest. ‘It’s mine now,’ he laughed. Hate burned in her eyes and heart as she looked up at him. ‘Get up, you’ve got sword training. If you can get a mark on me, you can have it back.’_

_‘Yes, master,’ she hissed through her teeth. Astrae climbed to her feet and followed her master out of the caves to the planet’s harsh surface. For once the sandstorms had died down to a gentle breeze, only blowing some sand around their feet._

_He tossed her a sword and called on his own. She had only just enough time to adjust her grip on the hilt before she had to bring it up to block a blow aimed to spice open her head. The impact jarred her shoulders and legs. The young girl barely had enough strength to hold the block. Immediately it was clear to Astrae she’d displeased him. He wouldn’t be holding back, making it a fight for her survival._

_The next swing was aimed for her legs. She avoided it by jumping, the blade sailing innocently beneath her. The moment her feet his the ground, she dropped and rolled, coming to her feet again behind him. She swung her sword at his legs. The answering roar at the impact was music to her ears._

_Triumph turned to horror a second later. No mark was left where her blade had made contact. She rolled away from another swing that was aimed for her as her master spun around to face her. She took the chance to finger the edge of her blade and found it was dulled._

_The girl paid for her moment’s inattention with a blow across her shoulders. Warm blood soaked her shirt and ran down her back. Obviously her master’s blade hadn’t been dulled._

_Astrae climbed back to her feet and met the mocking eyes of the monster she was forced to serve. Hatred and rage bubbled up inside her and with a cry she charged. The sound of blades meeting rang through the air._

_Fifteen minutes later the sword had been knocked out of her hands and she lay face down, panting and bleeding in the sand. Cuts were marring her skin and bruises were slowly forming. The blade of her master’s sword hit the ground half an inch from her nose._

_‘You’ve gotten better, little runt,’ he grumbled. ‘The storm is picking up again. Better get yourself inside before the sand chokes you,’ he laughed and left her laying in the dirt._

_She stayed where she was for several minutes, feeling the wind picking up and the sand slowly rubbing her skin raw. Eventually she started dragging herself back to the cave entrance. Once she made it far enough inside to be safe from the storm, she stopped. Tears filled her eyes and she had to bite her lips to stop herself crying out in pain._

_Dark edges started creeping into her vision. Astrae fought to stay conscious just a little while longer. She focused all her thoughts on her magic, sending it to the more serious injuries she had sustained. A soft hiss passed through her teeth as she felt skin knitting back together, sealing the dirt in with it._

_The last of her energy now spend, she let darkness claim her._

_She felt like she was on fire, flying through the air._

_‘Weak, useless human,’ a disembodied voice told her._

_Now she was falling. She wanted to scream, but her body wasn’t listening. The impact of her body hitting the ground was softer than it probably should’ve been. Instinctively she curled up in a ball and she knew no more._

_The next time she surfaced again the fire was still burning hot. She tossed and turned, trying to find some relieve from the heat. A cool touch seemed to ghost over her forehead. Somewhere in her mind she heard a soft, familiar and long forgotten voice tell her it will be alright, that she is strong and the voice is so proud of her._

_The spell broke at the sound of a new, more familiar voice reaching her ears, taking the touch with it. ‘I have to go. Don’t die while I’m out. I don’t want to have to clean up that mess.’_

_Astrae could only groan in reply, once again starting to toss and turn. There came a beeping noise and footsteps walked away from where she lay. The sounds of an agitated conversation drifted over, but the voices were too muted to make out the words. The long fingers of unconsciousness were starting to pull on her again, luring her to the peaceful realm of oblivion._

_She continued to drift in and out of consciousness. Sometimes she heard the beeping noise again, sometimes ghostly voices from long ago whispered in her mind, distant memories she couldn’t quite recall and sometimes all she heard was silence._

_A woman was running away from her, chasing a little boy. She watched them patiently from her spot. Suddenly hands gripped her tightly, a sharp pain sliced across her shoulders and she let out a chocked scream. Worried sounding voices drifted around her._

_Astrae tried to fight the hold the hands had on her as a sharp, stinging pain now shot across her shoulders, but she was too weak to break free. One voice calmly gave an order and the hold on her tightened. She barely registered her head was resting against something before she blacked out in pain._

_Again she was drifting in and out of consciousness, unaware of how much time passed around her. Astrae was aware someone was always beside her now. Sometimes they would talk, other times they’d just watch her._

_When she opened her eyes, she was staring at the ceiling of the cave. Shadows flickered across from a fire that had been build. She could hear someone snoring somewhere nearby. She felt stiff and sore. A pinching feeling in her arm caught her attention, she tried to reach it when a much too familiar voice stopped her._

_‘Cardon says you’re not supposed to touch that.’_

_Astrae turned her head and was met by piercing crimson eyes. ‘Orion,’ she croaked, the air moving through her throat causing a coughing fit._

_An arm slid under her shoulders, effortlessly raising her a bit before a bottle was set to her lips. She eagerly drank the cool liquid that was tipped into her mouth. ‘You want some broth too? Cardon made you some when your fever broke yesterday.’_

_‘Yes,’ she agreed. Orion set the bottle down and moved so he could catch her under her shoulders and sit her up against the wall. Astrae watched as he fetched her a bowl from a pan hanging over the fire. ‘What are you doing here?’_

_‘Darkonda wouldn’t let me talk to you,’ he shrugged, walking back over. ‘But I could tell something was off and not like those other times. I didn’t know where to find you, so I stole a velocifighter and took it to Onyx. I figured Cardon would know where you were. He said we got here just in time or you wouldn’t have made it.’_

_Astrae nodded and reached out for the bowl. Orion shook his head and sat down cross-legged beside her. Dipping the spoon in the broth, he held it out to her. She send him a glare, but opened her mouth anyway. For a while, they sat in silence as he fed her the broth._

_‘Ecliptor is going to kill you,’ she eventually broke the silence._

_‘Nothing new,’ Orion shrugged again. ‘Dark Spector won’t let him.’_

_‘Ever wonder what he sees in you?’ she asked. ‘Or where we come from for that matter? I’ve watched Darkonda traffic young children stolen from several planets.’_

_Orion considered the question for a moment, then shrugged once more. ‘If we are stolen, it’s not likely we’ll ever find out where we were taken from. It’s a big universe. We do what we have to to survive and when I’m strong enough, I’ll defeat Ecliptor and then Darkonda and we’ll find a quiet corner of it where they won’t ever find us. Then we can live life the way we want to.’_

_Neither noticed the sounds of the snores had chanced, nor could they see two eyes watching them hidden deep under a hood._


	8. Chapter 7

** Chapter 7 **

‘Where do you think you’re going?’

‘Back?’

‘Do you need to leave now to be back in time?’

‘No,’ she looked over her shoulder at him sprawled out on the bed. ‘Why? I never stayed before.’

‘You never stayed gone as long as this before,’ he replied, his eyes roving her body as she wiggled into her skin tight leather pants.

‘If I keep coming and going, someone is bound to notice.’

‘So don’t go just yet.’

Astrae snorted and started looking around for the rest of her clothes. She bend down to pick up her belt and felt someone approaching behind her. Hands took hold of her hips as Orion stepped up to her. She straightened back up and he pulled her against his chest. One arm moved around her waist to keep her to him while the other reached up and brushed her hair to one side so he could bury his face in her neck.

‘Stay,’ he muttered against her skin.

‘Does the mighty Orion, Prince of Darkness, admit to having feeling?’ she teased.

‘I admit to having needs,’ he replied. ‘And you happen to fulfil some of them. I didn’t say I was finished with you yet.’

‘They got slaves for that at Onyx.’

‘No slave would dare be half as feisty as you,’ he smirked as his mouth trailed down to the almost invisible white line that ran across her shoulders. She knew he was referring to the scratches she’d left on his back.

‘Do I get a say in this?’

‘Not today.’

She roughly pulled away from him, crossing the room before she turned to glare at him. He held her gaze, not in the least bit intimidated. ‘You don’t own me,’ she snapped.

‘I never said I did. I just said I could keep this going a bit longer if you stay. And maybe being here with all these tin cans, I need human interaction right now, other than fighting the silver ranger.’

‘Is that why he’s still alive?’ she asked, a small grin forming on her lips even if her posture stayed rigid. ‘I know you’re capable of killing him without too much effort.’

‘You better keep that to yourself,’ he told her, taking a step closer. She didn’t move and he took the cue to cross the room. He put his hands on her hips again, stepping in close to her. ‘Stay,’ he requested again. ‘I’ll make it worth your while.’

As she watched him, he let his magic fade, hair and eyes turning back to their natural colours. Her grin widened and her posture relaxed. She reached out and ran her hand through his hair, knotting her fingers in it at the back of his head while she let her own hair and eyes also return to their natural colours. ‘Maybe I could stay a little longer,’ she agreed.

Orion’s hands moved from her hips to the front of her pants, fiddling playfully with the button. ‘Come back to bed?’

Her grip on his hair tightened painfully. ‘You had better be ready for round two.’

* * *

She was working on the bridge when he found her. Wet hair pulled into a bun, wearing a fresh uniform and comparing read outs from a console at the side of the bridge to a datapad in her hands. ‘Should you be up yet?’ she asked, not looking up.

‘Probably not,’ he agreed, limping onto the bridge and dropping into the chair next to her. ‘Shouldn’t you be asleep?’

‘I’ve been sleeping for the past year, or so Deca tells me. I think I can pull an all-nighter,’ she replied. ‘We’ll arrive at Eltar in about ten hours. I’m trying to see what we have the supplies for to fix and what we’ll need to get.’

‘Well, we’ll definitely need a large supply of new wiring. I haven’t taken on too much supplies in a while. Half the wiring on the ship is taped together.’

‘Your dad would be so proud,’ she jabbed, glancing at him and tapping a few things on the datapad. ‘Cora of Kinta called for you while you were out.’

‘What did she say?’

‘Nothing, just asked for you to call her back when you’re next available,’ she grunted.

‘I’ll call her when we get to Eltar.’

Karone snorted and focussed on her work. Zhane watched her work quietly for a few minutes. Eventually he sighed and pushed himself back up. Just before he left the bridge he turned back around. ‘I found Cora’s sister on a slave colony a few months back. She didn’t talk much, but Cora promised to keep me updated. It’s a long shot, but I hoped that, since she is about a year older than us, she might be able to give us a lead on Andros. Nya was added to the list of Stolen Children two years after your brother.’

A single tear rolled down Karone’s cheek as Zhane stepped off the bridge. He hadn’t given up on her this past year and he even continued her search for her brother. And this was the thanks she was giving him?

An hour later she entered the engine room. Zhane was working on an open panel in the engine.

‘That’s not exactly advisable when the ship is drawing power from the engine to move,’ she commented.

‘It wouldn’t be, no,’ he answered. ‘However, this powercell is bust, so there’s no current on this section. We don’t have any spares, so they should go on that list if they aren’t already.’

Karone glanced down at the datapad in her hand and added the cells to the list. ‘I’m sorry,’ she offered when it was saved.

‘For what?’ Zhane asked, poking his head out from behind the panel.

‘Overreacting, I guess. When Cora called, I assumed you’d been prancing around the universe, flirting with every girl you met like you used to do on KO-35.’

Zhane laughed and closed the panel. ‘I didn’t flirt with _every_ girl I met. And no, I haven’t been going around.’

‘Okay, not _every_ girl. You never flirted with me. But are you trying to tell me the biggest flirt on the colony hasn’t been seeing any girl for the past year?’ Karone smiled.

‘Other than that on again off again thing with Ila, no, I haven’t.’

‘And what phase is that thing in?’

‘Off again as of when I last saw her,’ he shrugged.

‘I’m sorry.’

‘I’m not. It wasn’t exactly healthy. But we still talk whenever I get the chance to check in with the rebels.’

‘No, maybe it wasn’t,’ she agreed with a small smile. ‘And what rebels? What did I miss this past year?’

‘Too much to tell in one sitting,’ Zhane laughed, looking her in the eye. ‘But I think the most important thing you should know is that I missed having my best friend around.’

Karone’s smile faltered a little now. ‘Well, I’m here now,’ she quipped, watching his smile grow as a boulder was dropped in the pit of her stomach.


	9. Chapter 8

** Chapter 8 **

_Orion sat on a rock watching Astrae closely as she bathed in a pool deep in the cave system. A small pile of fresh clothes lay by his feet for her to change into when she was done._

_'Watch out for your stitches,' he called when she reached slightly too far._

_Astrae shot him a look, but complied. After a few more minutes she stepped out of the pool and slipped into the clothes. She eyed him for a moment as he slid off the rock. He gathered the bag with discarded clothes and wrapped an arm around her waist to support her._

_'This probably was a bad idea,' he commented as he felt her shaking when they started walking._

_'Possibly, but I wasn't going to stay in those clothes for a moment longer,' she replied._

_'Point taken.'_

_Their pace was slow, but they managed to get back to her cave without much trouble. Cardon's snores still filled the room. Astrae was by now leaning heavily on Orion for support, her legs shaking badly. Orion tried to steer her back to her nest, but she eyed the mess in disgust. A log pulled itself from the fire and flew over to her nest. It dropped down and immediately the nest caught fire._

_Orion jumped back in surprise, dropping the bag he'd been holding. It too became airborn and joined to fuel the flames._

_'Are you crazy?' he exclaimed, stepping back to catch her when she started wobbling._

_Astrae shrugged, watching the flames. He nudged her to the nearest wall so she could sit down before her legs gave out. In the meantime Cardon shot up from his lounced position across from them._

_'What the...'_

_'Darkonda doesn't want to have to clean up the mess when he gets back,' Astrae explained coolly, still watching her nest burn. Suddenly her still pale face drained of what little colour it had. Her eyes flashed between Orion and Cardon. ' Darkonda,' she choked._

_'Had a job halfway across the universe. With the speed of his ship, he's only just arrived there. We'll be gone long before he returns. He won't know we've been here,' Cardon assured her._

_'I'm more worried right now of taking a beating from Ecliptor,' Orion shrugged at her. ' But it's worth it, knowing you're safe.'_

_Cardon observed them interacting. It was obvious they'd known each other for a long time, but had spent years apart, their only contact through comm system. He had to wonder how the two had met, but it was unlikely either would remember. Dark Spector had been right the two would make good allies, but to what end remained to be seen. Their loyalties lay with each other first and that might put them in a dangerous position within Dark Spector's army._

* * *

_'Welcome to the first day of the rest of your lives,' a man said addressing a large group of children of various ages. 'You have all been selected on basis of personality, aptitude test and school results to join the ranger academy. I will not lie, most of you will fail as there are more students than there are morphers. Only the best of the best will receive those. I trust it is motivation for you all to push the limits and be the best you can be. The selection process starts today. When you arrived here you were given a number, those indicate which class you were put in. Please seek out your head teacher and join your classmates. Good luck.'_

_A cacophony of sounds filled the hall as the children got up and moved to find their head teachers. Slowly groups formed and started leaving the hall in favour of a more quiet environment to start the first lessons. One of these groups ended up in the gym. Twenty-three children crowded around the teacher, while one girl hung back a little. Many of the children were greeting each other excitedly and the teacher let them for a minute before motioning for silence. Once everyone quieted down, he started speaking. 'We're going to start today with some strength and stamina exercises. At the end of our hour I'll hand out your schedules. Now, you'll be performing these exercises in pairs, so please pick a partner.'_

_Noise levels rose again. Many of the children turned to a boy with blonde hair and brown eyes, about eight years old, trying to get his attention and shouting his name. He looked around trying to decide whom to partner up with. His eyes fell on the girl standing alone. Long blonde hair was pulled into a tight braid and her blue eyes were fixed on the floor. The boy broke away from the group and walked over to her. He caught her arm and dragged her back to the group with him._

_'What do you think you're doing?' she demanded, a little startled._

_'Didn't you hear? We need to pair up and I pick you,' the boy replied brightly._

_'I don't want to pair up. I do better alone,' the girl protested._

_'Well, tough luck. There's an even number of kids here, pairs are made up of two, so you can't be the odd one out,' he shrugged._

_'Zhane, do you know who that is?' another of the boys hissed in his ear._

_'Yeah, so?'_

_A fierce look silenced anyone else and everyone quickly broke into pairs too. The teacher explained the exercise to them and told them to spread around the gym to work on it. The girl shot Zhane a glare and dragged him to the far end of the room. They worked in silence for a while, before the girl finally broke the silence._

_'You really know who I am?'_

_'Of course. It's a small colony. Everyone knows everyone or at least heard of them,' Zhane shrugged. 'Besides, we were in the same class for a year before they let you skip.'_

_'Oh,' she looked slightly embarrassed. 'I don't remember you.'_

_'Didn't think you would. You always paid more attention to the teacher and our schoolwork than to the other children. It got you where you wanted to be, though.'_

_'Not by far, but I'm not going to let anyone distract me from reaching my goal,' she told him with a glare._

_'Good thing I'm going to be your best friend from now on. You're doing this to be able to continue the search from your twin brother, right?'_

_Her glare intensified. 'They called off the search years ago,' she hissed. 'My brother is dead and I don't have any friends.'_

_'So everyone keeps saying,' Zhane nodded. 'I was hoping to have at least some competition to the title of your best friend, you know.'_

_'I don't need you. You're not my friend.'_

_They worked in silence for another few minutes._

_'So,' Zhane spoke up again. 'What have you found so far? You wouldn't be here if you thought he was really dead.'_

_The girl glared at him again, stayed silent. This continued for the rest of the day. In every class they needed to pair up, Zhane picked her. Any class taught in a classroom, he sat down next to her. He noticed her frustration with him the while time. At the end of the day, she hurried away from the academy building._

_'See you tomorrow!' he yelled after her with a grin. She didn't react._

_Zhane ran all the way home, entering the house through the back door. His mother was waiting for him in the kitchen, a glass of juice and a plate of his favourite sweet breads stood on the counter. His mother kissed him on the top of his head as he reached for his drink and a treat._

_'How was your first day? Did you make any new friends?' she asked him._

_'It was fun,' Zhane nodded and took a bite from his sweet bread. 'And I made a new best friend.'_

_'How many times do I have to tell you not to speak with a full mouth?' his mother sighed in exasperation. 'So, who's this new best friend of yours?'_

_Zhane swallowed the large bite and grinned. 'Karone,' he told her proudly._

_His mother's eyes grew wide and she paled a little. 'Zhane,' she started gently, crouching to his eye level. 'It's nice of you to try and be her friend. The girl could really use one. But don't get too attached. She scored high on everything but teamwork. Everyone knows she got in because they couldn't pass her over, but she'll be one of the first to get cut.'_

_'I'm going to help her with that teamwork bit. She just wants to find her brother and being a ranger is the only real way she can do that.'_

_'Zhane,' his mother said gently. 'Andros is dead. They had a funeral and everything. Karone just can't come to terms with that._

_'I know.'_


	10. Chapter 9

** Chapter 9 **

‘Ashley!’ a voice called through the hall. She stopped and turned to look back at the mass of students milling around below her. A figure was pushing through them and took the steps two at a time to catch up with her. ‘How was your weekend?’ Carlos grinned at her.

‘Enjoyable,’ she nodded. ‘How was the movie?’

‘Horrid,’ he told her. ‘We lost rock-paper-scissors and the girls picked some chick flick.’

‘The horror,’ Ashley grinned and started walking again. Carlos followed without a word. ‘If that’s how movies get picked all the time, I don’t think I’ll ever be tempted to join you.’

‘If you join, we’ll let you pick the movie the first time around as a courtesy call. Anyway, usually we vote and pick the most popular one. This time we had a draw, so we had to settle it differently.’

‘Oh, so you invited me to be the tie breaker. Good to know,’ Ashley laughed.

‘Not entirely,’ Carlos grinned. ‘So you’ll come next time?’

‘Oh no, you promised me a veto pick when I join. I’m saving that for a really good one,’ she smirked and hitched the strap of her backpack up higher on her shoulder.

‘Good point,’ Carlos nodded a bit disappointed. His eyes suddenly narrowed as he looked at her. ‘Hey, what’s that?’ he asked, pointing at a mark on her shoulder that had become visible as her jacket had shifted with her bag.

‘Nothing,’ Ashley said, pulling at her shirt and jacket to cover the mark again.

‘It looks like…’

‘I said it’s nothing,’ Ashley snapped, irritation colouring her voice.

Carlos stopped walking for a moment at the venom in her voice, but quickly recovered. ‘So, wanna do homework together at the Youth Centre after school?’ he asked, deciding it was best to change the subject.

‘Yeah, sure,’ Ashley nodded, her shoulders relaxing again.

* * *

‘I’m sorry I couldn’t be of more help to you,’ Cora apologized. ‘I do hope you find him.’

‘Thanks, Cora, at least it’s a lead of sorts. I’ve got a contact I can approach with this,’ Zhane nodded. ‘Just take care of Nya.’

They said goodbye and Zhane cut the connection. He sat back in his chair and ran his hands over his face. Cora’s information wasn’t truly useless per se, but it wasn’t exactly helpful either. With a sigh he looked up at Deca’s eye. ‘Deca, keep this information locked behind my personal security code. Until I know how useful it is, I’d like to keep it to myself.’

‘Acknowledged. Karone has returned to the ship. She is looking for you,’ Deca informed.

Zhane cursed under his breath. He had hoped the Eltarans would keep her busy for a little while longer so he could make a second call. Now that would have to wait. He turned his chair around just as Karone walked onto the bridge.

‘So, did Cora have anything useful?’ she asked immediately.

‘Unless they turned Andros into a girl. No, nothing,’ Zhane shook his head.

‘But she did have _something_ ,’ Karone pressed.

‘Yeah, but I’m not entirely sure what it is myself. It’s some information that might have value buying other information, but it might be completely useless too. So what did Eltar say?’

Karone raised an eyebrow, but allowed him to change the subject. ‘They’ll supply us and they’re willing to send up mechanics to help with the repairs. They were a little insulted you didn’t join me on the surface and asked me to relay a message to you.’

‘Of course, self-righteous bastards. What’s the message? Though I think I can guess.’

‘If you would just tell them the location of the rebels, they’d be able to send help,’ Karone told him. ‘Who are these rebels anyway? You mentioned them before. And why wouldn’t you tell Eltar where they are? We’re all on the same side of the war, aren’t we?’

Zhane sighed and motioned for her to take a seat next to him. He swirled his chair to face hers and took a deep breath.

‘The rebels are Karovan fugitives doing as much as they can in the war against Dark Spector. It’s not much, but it does help. Over the past year I’ve asked dozens of times for Eltar to share their cloaking technology the Phantom Ranger uses so I can install it on the Megaship. It will be so much safer and easier to visit and supply the rebels. Eltar refuses. In return I refuse to share the rebels’ location. I visit as often as I can risk it, but without a cloaking system, that’s not all that often at all.’

‘I’m sorry,’ Karone muttered, reaching out to take his hand and giving it a squeeze. ‘I’m sorry you had to deal with them alone.’

‘If it’s alright with you, we’ll take the supplies, fix the scanners and patch up the engine ourselves without Eltaran mechanics. They just want to get their hands on Karovan technology anyway. Once the scanners are back in perfect working order, I think we can risk a visit to the rebels. They’ll be happy to see you again and there are several former shipyard workers among them. They’d be better help fixing the rest of the Megaship than anyone Eltar can provide. These guys build the thing.’

‘I think I like that plan very much,’ Karone smiled. ‘Will your dad be there?’

Zhane’s face darkened and he shook his head. ‘I know they made it off planet with your family during the evacuation, but their ship was damaged. That’s the last anyone knows.’

‘If anyone can fix that ship, it’s your dad.’

‘If they had the supplies on board, yes,’ Zhane agreed. ‘He’ll definitely have been able to land it safely somewhere too. Whether they made it off again, I don’t know. Chances of them having had the right supplies with them are slim. There must be more survivors out there than just the rebels. I know there must be and they might have been able to meet up with a group we don’t know about. But it’s all pure speculation.’

‘There out there somewhere,’ Karone assured him. ‘Just like Andros is.’

‘And we’re going to find them all, win this war and live a quiet life on KO-35,’ Zhane grinned.

Karone laughed, dropping his hand and shoving at his shoulder. ‘You’re and idiot,’ she accused. ‘I’ll let Eltar know what we decided.’

‘I’ll go with you,’ Zhane said, jumping up. ‘I’m definitely not getting that cloaking technology if I insult them by staying on the Megaship.’

‘I can tell them that.’

‘No, until you’ve met the rebels, this is my battle. After that you’re free to decide if you join in or not, but you shouldn’t get involved without knowing everything,’ Zhane stated firmly.

That night Zhane walked onto the bridge. ‘Deca, where’s Karone?’ he asked, dropping into the chair behind the central console.

‘Karone is currently in her courters.’

‘Thank you, Deca,’ he nodded. Pushing several buttons on the console, he watched the viewing screen change from showing Eltar to a static. He waited patiently for a few minutes and was about to cut the connection when the static was replaced by a tired looking man.

‘I’m sorry to wake you, but I need to talk to you about a side job of yours and this was the first and possibly only private moment I had,’ Zhane spoke quickly. ‘The signal is secure and coded.’

‘Alright,’ the man nodded. ‘What do you want to talk about?’

‘Astrae,’ Zhane stated. ‘The Stolen Children.’

The man turned grim, but motioned for him to continue.

‘I found Nya of Kinta on a slave colony a while back. She doesn’t talk much still, but I spoke to her sister earlier today and she did mention a few things. Nya remembers being sold on Onyx, not in the tavern auction, but an even blacker market. She didn’t say who kidnapped and sold her, only that she met a girl named Astrae and she was a slave too…’ Zhane trailed off for a moment. ‘The slave of Darkonda.’

‘Astrae will kill you if she ever heard you repeat that. Darkonda is her worst enemy. I’ll advise you to keep it to yourself.’

Zhane nodded. ‘So it’s true. Could it be she’s one of the Stolen Children as well?’

‘We honestly don’t know. It’s been considered, but she doesn’t fit any child on the list. But it’s also very likely the list is incomplete. Astrae is human, without a  doubt. However, not all humans live on planets like KO-35. Most live on planets much less advanced. If Astrae was stolen from one of those isolated planets, she’d never be added to the list. Or she could just have been born to human slaves and sold as an infant.’

‘So the information is useless,’ Zhane sighed.

‘Information that seems useless now might be invaluable later. You have provided information we will be looking into, though. I’m sorry I could not be of more help to you.’

‘Wait,’ Zhane said hurriedly as the man reached to cut the connection. ‘You’ve met Astrae, right? What’s she really like?’

‘Ruthless when she needs to be.’

The connection was cut just moments before Karone walked onto the bridge.

‘Who were you talking to? I thought I heard voices,’ she asked.

‘A contact. I thought you’d already gone to bed.’

‘Another? How many contact do you have?’ Karone exclaimed, ignoring his statement.

‘A few,’ Zhane replied vaguely.

‘Useful?’

‘Not today.’


	11. Chapter 10

** Chapter 10 **

_Three people were seated in an office, a tense atmosphere hanging in the air. A sober looking man sat behind his desk, looking at an anxious couple sitting across from him._

_‘Her test scores are amongst the highest in the academy, as was expected, but in teamwork she scores the lowest of all the students still. Rangers can’t function properly without teamwork. I’m sorry, but on the basis of that one failing grade, we are forced to cut Karone from the academy,’ the man behind the desk told the couple._

_A tear slipped down the cheek of the woman sitting across from him. ‘It will tear her apart, but we understand,’ she said softly._

_‘That you for at least giving her a chance. Maybe this will finally shake her awake that it’s time to let go,’ the man nodded sadly._

_‘There’s no chance of her getting one more chance, is there?’ the woman whispered._

_The man behind the desk shook his head regretfully. ‘We have already given her more time than we normally would. If she had shown any sign of improving her teamwork in the future, we would have gladly kept her a little longer still and see where it would lead. We are mindful of her situation, but she stoically ignores the other children…’_

_They were interrupted by a knock on the door a moment before it was opened. ‘Oh, I’m sorry, sir. I thought you were available. This meeting wasn’t in your schedule,’ the young woman in the door opening apologized, turning bright red. ‘Your next appointment is here, when you’re ready.’_

_‘That’s okay, Tia. Thank you,’ the man behind the desk answered. ‘I’ll only be a minute more.’_

_Tia nodded and went to close the door again._

_‘Wait!’ the other man exclaimed, having caught sight of the couple standing behind Tia. ‘You’re Argon and Ligia, right? Parents to Zhane?’_

_‘Yes, and you are Dyamin, father to Karone,’ Argon nodded._

_Dyamin turned back to the head of the academy. ‘May they come in? I think I might have a proposition, but it involves them. I’d like for them to hear and have a say in it.’_

_‘Let them in, Tia,’ the man waved._

_‘Dyamin?’ his wife asked uncertainly as Argon and Ligia entered the room and sat down._

_‘Trust me, Hiberia,’ Dyamin offered a small smile and turned his attention back to the other couple. ‘It will probably not come as a surprise to you we’re here because Karone is being cut from the academy. She doesn’t work well in a team and that’s a vital ability to a ranger,’ he paused and watched the two nod sympathetically. ‘However, it wasn’t until I saw you just now that I realised being at the academy had been affection Karone. The first day when she returned home she was complaining loudly about Zhane and how he was obnoxiously sticking to her side all day. For weeks all she did was complain about him.’_

_‘I’m sorry,’ Ligia interrupted. ‘Zhane can be a bit excitable and pushy when he sets his mind to something.’_

_‘That’s just the thing,’ Dyamin continued. ‘She slowly started complaining less. She rarely tells us anything about her day, but when she does, she always mentions Zhane. I thought I was imagining it and maybe I am, but I can see the ghost of a smile when she talks about him now and just a week ago… I could’ve sworn I heard her laughing in her room for a fleeting moment. I haven’t heard her laugh since Andros…’_

_Tears were now streaming freely down Hiberia’s cheeks._

_‘What do you mean propose then?’ the head inquired._

_Dyamin turned his attention back to him. ‘Karone is out of the running for a morpher. I get that. But is there any way she can stay at the academy with Zhane?’ he requested. Then his eyes suddenly turned wide. ‘Unless Zhane is being cut too?’_

_‘No, he is not,’ the head assured him. ‘It is quite a burden you suggest putting on such a young boy, though.’_

_‘That’s why I want Argon and Ligia’s opinions, before you decide,’ Dyamin nodded._

_The two in question looked at each other for a long moment. Hiberia watched them anxiously, a faint hope shining in her eyes. Ligia turned back to the other people in the room and slowly nodded._

_‘We might see it as a burden to Zhane, but in all honesty, it’s a burden he’s already carrying. He chose to hang around Karone and stalk her at the academy. From day one he’s been determined to draw her out of her shell. He’s convinced everyone deserves a friend and took it on himself to be hers. If it’s working, I’m all for helping in any way we can.’_

_Silence fell and the four parents watched the head consider the request. Minutes slowly ticked by and nobody moved. Finally he sat back in his chair with a sigh._

_‘It’s an unconventional request,’ he started. ‘But I can see no harm in stimulating this friendship a little longer and see where it leads. I had called Argon and Ligia here to warn them a friend of Zhane was being cut. He’s been working extra hard to be able to keep up with her and I feared he might start slacking without her. Maybe this arrangement will work in favour for both children.’_

_Hiberia let out a sob. Before Dyamin could react, Ligia had her arms around the other woman. ‘It’s going to be alright,’ she whispered soothingly._

_Argon and Dyamin looked at each other and nodded. Somehow, today had formed a bond between their families that went beyond whatever weird kind of friendship their children had._

_Completely unaware of any decisions about her future having been made, Karone was sitting home alone in her room. She was diligently doing her homework. Unconsciously she rubbed at her eyes as black spots started to dance across her vision. With a huff she pushed the books away from her and looked at the empty glass standing on her desk. How long had it been since she last drank something?_

_She came up blank. With a grimace she grabbed the glass and got up to get a drink downstairs. One of the doors in the hall had been left open. The room behind it had belonged to her twin, but her parents were redecorating it. Angrily she gave the door a telekinetic shove, slamming it close and locking away the sight of the unwanted changes._

_Karone stomped downstairs and filled her glass in the kitchen. She quickly drained it before filling it again and going back to her room. At her desk she picked up the next book and groaned. Teamwork was stupid. She always did better without someone holding her back. How was she ever going to bed good enough if someone was constantly weighing her down?_

_After reading a few paragraphs she threw the book across the room in frustration. To her amazement a piece of paper flew out. Tentatively she went to pick it up. It was a drawing._

_Someone had drawn a big bed with a monster underneath. Two colourless rangers had been drawn next to it in fighting stances. They weren’t wearing their helmets and their hair easily gave away who they were meant to represent._

_In voluntarily she let out a giggle. This was the second silly picture Zhane had managed to sneak in her bag, even though it never left her sight. Maybe the boy wasn’t all that bad._


	12. Chapter 11

** Chapter 11 **

‘Deca?’

‘No ships detected withing scanner range.’

‘Bring her down, you know where to land,’ Zhane ordered and  turned to Karone. ‘Let’s get the supplies ready. Deca can land the ship on her own.’

‘All the supplies?’ Karone raised an eyebrow.

‘We have access to a synthatron,’ Zhane explained yet again, laughing at the face Karone made. ‘And we have more allies we can get more supplies from. The rebels largely depend on whatever supplies I can bring them. They need the food more than we do.’

‘Fine,’ Karone sighed. She followed Zhane to one of the climate controlled cargo bays and they sat to work. An hour later she shifted nervously from foot to foot holding a crate laden with fresh fruits as one of the outer hatches opened up in front of her.

A group of uniformed men was waiting at the bottom of the ramp behind an older man in different styled clothing. Karone easily recognized the grandfatherly like figure as the Karovan leader. The uniformed man saluted, but the older man’s face light up with a smile. ‘Karone! You have healed,’ he exclaimed joyously. ‘Come. The rest of the supplies are in their usual place?’ When Zhane nodded he waved to the troops and they filed past the two rangers into the Megaship. The older man turned and walked away, not even checking if Zhane and Karone were following. They did.

‘Next time you come we should relocate again. We have been here too long,’ the man spoke over his shoulder.

‘I’ll have Deca update your star charts so you can pick a new planet,’ Zhane nodded.

They approached a waterfall which split open when they came within range of a hidden sensor. Behind the waterfall was a natural tunnel in the rock wall. The two rangers followed the man down the tunnel and they stepped into a hidden valley a few minutes later. A cheer went up from amongst the ruins that were littered around the valley floor.

Within moments Karone was surrounded. People were telling her how happy they were to see her again. Some even embraced her. They all chose a single piece of fruit from the crate she was still holding and happily bit into it. She felt a bright smile appear on her face and searched the crowd to see if Zhane was being welcomed just as warmly.

When she spotted him, he’d already got rid of his own crate and his arms were wrapped around a girl with long red hair in a tight embrace. Ila, she easily recognized and found she suddenly had to fight to keep the smile on her face. The couple spoke a few quick words  to each other before they parted. Zhane disappeared between the ruins. Ila’s stormy grey eyes met hers and she walked over with a bright smile.

‘Karone, you look well,’ she greeted, giving her a quick hug. ‘Here, why don’t you give me that crate so you can mingle?’ Karone hesitated. ‘We were all really worried about you, but Zhane never lost faith you would be fine. He believed in you and we believed him.’

‘Okay,’ Karone agreed, nervously shooting a look around the crowd.

‘Or if you rather have Zhane acting as a buffer, we could bring some fruit to the children first. We keep them apart at first when someone visits as a safety precaution. Just until we’re absolutely sure they’re safe. It will be a little while before Zhane returns,’ Ila offered.

‘I’d like that,’ Karone agreed more readily. Somehow social interaction was always easier if Zhane was close by.

‘Come one, it’s this way.’

Ila lead the way between the ruins until they stood at the top of stairs leading to a door below the valley surface. They descended and Ila pushed open the door, motioning for Karone to go in first. She got only a quick look around the large underground room that looked like it could house all the rebels when they needed shelter. Then she was quickly surrounded by a dozen enthusiastic children. Two adults tried to get them to calm down to no avail.

‘Who wants a piece of fruit?’ Karone asked loudly over the noise they were making. Twelve hands shot into the air. ‘If you sit down on the ground, I’ll come by and you can pick one from the crate.’

Immediately the kids sat down in a semi-circle and Karone let each take a piece of fruit from the crate before presenting it to the two adults.

‘Wow, you’re good with kids. I have never seen them settled this quickly,’ Ila complimented, looking impressed.

‘I’ve had practise,’ Karone shrugged. ‘And I actually learned from Zhane that bribing is the quickest way to get them to do what you want.’

‘Yeah, that sounds like Zhane alright,’ Ila laughed. She picked two pieces of fruit from the crate and tossed one to Karone before sitting down on the floor with her back against a wall and patted the spot beside her. Karone dropped down beside her and they ate their fruit in a comfortable silence.

Four children wandered over cautiously. Karone guessed the youngest was about seven and the oldest no older than ten. They pushed the youngest forward, looking at her expectantly. The little girl hesitated for a moment, dropping her eyes to the floor. ‘When can we go home?’ she asked in a small voice.

‘What’s your name?’ Karone asked gently.

‘Sky,’ the girl answered, looking back up. Karone held out her hand and drew Sky to sit in her lap when she stepped forward. Only when she was safely cuddled into Karone’s arms did the ranger answer.

‘Not yet, but Zhane and I will never stop fighting until it’s safe enough to return. But that might be years,’ Karone told her honestly.

‘What’s it like to be a ranger?’ a boy around nine asked her.

‘Hard, tiring and painful,’ Karone answered.

‘Then why would anyone still want to be a ranger?’ the oldest boy demanded.

‘You make it all worth it. Seeing you all safe and unharmed, given the chance to grow up. It’s the best feeling and I could ask for no better reward.’

The three kids sat down by them and more started to migrate over to them. They asked Karone blunt questions which she all answered honestly. Before she knew it she was telling them stories of her days at the ranger academy. Time slipped by unnoticed and suddenly Karone realised Zhane had joined them, standing a few feet away from them.

Her breath caught in her throat when she looked up at him and saw he was holding a five-month-old baby. The stormy grey eyes and wisps of blonde hair highlighted with flashes of silver left her no doubt who the little girl’s parents were.

‘Karone, I’d like you to meet Zara,’ he said confidently, though there was fear hidden deep in his eyes.


	13. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just to let you know, I’ve borrowed Saryn and Mirine from Starandrea. She’s awesome, I use some of her universe as head cannon in my stories. But yeah, not mine.

** Chapter 12 **

_A ten-year-old girl walked purposely down the dirt streets, her shoulders pushed back and her head held high as the sun was beating down on her. Her bright blue eyes were covertly scanning her surroundings. Her short brown hair was ruffled by the light breeze that did nothing against the stifling heat but move the hot air around a little._

_As she rounded a corner she bumped into a father with his two children, a son and a daughter a few years older than her._

_‘Are you okay?’ the man asked. He had caught her arms to stop her from falling._

_‘Yes, I’m fine. I’m sorry,’ she replied politely._

_‘Are you lost?’ the man continued, searching the streets for her parents._

_‘No, just exploring. I know the way back to our ship.’_

_‘Ah, you’re with the Karovan traiders. I’m Taveon and these are my children Saryn and Mirine,’ Taveon smiled._

_‘Yes, I am,’ she lied easily. ‘I’m Ailya.’_

_‘We’ll see you tonight at the feast?’ Mirine inquired hopefully. Her blue eyes searching hers as a few locks of black hair were blown into the older girl’s eyes._

_‘Definitely,’ the younger girl nodded. ‘I should go now, though.’_

_‘Enjoy your stay,’ Taveon told her. ‘And don’t stay out in the sun for too long. It’s not like the Karovan one.’_

_‘I won’t, thanks,’ she called over her shoulder and quickly hurried on in a slightly different direction than she should be heading. She heard the declaration of the boy, Saryn, drift over that she’d been lying. She quickened her pace a little and once she was sure she was out of sight with no one paying any attention to her anymore, she slipped into the nearest alley and started back tracking. Moving from shadow to shadow, she reached her target without any further interruptions. A rickety door was the back entrance to one of the most secure buildings on this planet. The only indication to that was the slightly more advanced security pad beside the door. The girl traced her fingers over it, golden sparkles moving from her fingers into the pad. A moment later the door clicked open._

_She hurriedly slipped inside and moved through the maze of corridors. The camera systems had been fried and she’d triggered an intruder alert as far from where she needed to be as she could. Before anyone realized what was really happening, she’d be long gone._

_The door to the vault opened as easily as the outer door. Inside she opened the locker she was told to and picked up the small golden coin from inside. A rush of power went through her as she touched it and she quickly slipped it into her pocket. She looked at the other lockers, sorely tempted to go through them as well, but she knew she’d have to leave now if she had any chance of slipping away undetected._

_She hurriedly left the vault and made her way back to the door by a different route, just to be safe. Once she slipped into the crowd on the street again, she allowed herself to smile and touched the coin in her pocket. No one paid her much notice and she walked just as confidently back to the skyport, keeping up the appearance she was one of the Karovan visitors. Just before having to enter the building, she used the confusing mass of people coming and going to disappear down another alley._

_It lead her to the edge of the town. There she made sure the coast was clear and started running across the desert. Soon sweat was pouring down her face and into her eyes, but she didn’t slow down until she finally spotted her master’s ship, hidden between the sand dunes._

_‘Did you get it?’ the monster called out to her._

_‘Yes, master. It was right where you said it would be,’ she answered, dropping to a knee in front of him. She pulled the coin from her pocket and ran her thumb over the three clawed paw print on it, before handing it over. ‘What is it?’_

_‘That’s not important, but I know someone willing to pay a hefty price for it. If she ever escapes her dumpster, that is,’ he laughed. ‘For a waste of space, you do have some useful moments, Astrae. Now come, we should get out of here before they find us.’_

_The girl passed her hand in front of her face as she got back to her feet. In a shower of golden sparkles her hair turned back to its usual black colour and her eyes were once more a shining gold._

* * *

_‘Hey,’ he greeted softly._

_‘What are you doing here?’ she demanded._

_‘Looking for you, obviously,’ he shrugged. ‘What are you doing here?’_

_‘Looking for some peace, quiet and solitude.’_

_He dropped down next to her, ignoring the glare she send his way. ‘How are things at home?’_

_‘Noisy,’ she allowed grudgingly._

_‘It will get better, someday,’ he assured her. ‘So… why here?’_

_‘It’s been seven years today.’_

_‘How’s your search going?’_

_‘He’s dead. We’ve moved on.’_

_‘You don’t have to lie to me. I’m not here to judge you.’_

_She eyed him for a moment. He’d asked her that same question several times since she’d met him. She always lied, but he was here now, today of all days when no one else was._

_‘He’s not the only one,’ she sighed. ‘Eltar has a long list of children having gone missing in similar ways all over the universe. The Stolen Children, they call them. I’ve read the file they have on him.’_

_‘What did it say?’_

_‘Not much I didn’t already know. They’re still looking for him. But it says “family had an empty casket funeral for closure”.’_

_‘So, officially he’s not dead, but still missing?’_

_‘Yeah, I guess.’_

_‘Did they find any of the other children?’ he asked._

_‘A few,’ she answered, tears now springing into her eyes against her will._

_‘Good news?’_

_‘No.’ The tears started rolling down her cheeks and she angrily tried to scrub them away._

_‘But Andros is still classed as missing?’ he pressed._

_‘Yes,’ she snapped._

_‘Well, that’s proof he’s still alive then,’ the boy next to her grinned his usual goofy grin._

_‘How can you say that?’ she asked dumbfounded, her tears forgotten._

_‘Easy, if he wasn’t, there’d be no need to keep him hidden and his body would’ve been found already. He’s out there, alive, and we’re going to find him once we’ve become Power Rangers,’ he told her confidently and reached out to wipe away her tears._

_Suddenly she threw herself at him, wrapping her arms tightly around his neck. He wrapped his arms around her and looked over her shoulder at the gravestone she’d been staring at. He made a silent promise to her missing twin that he’d watch out for her until they were reunited._

_‘You’re the only person who believes me,’ she muttered. ‘Thank you for being my friend.’_

_‘Best friend,’ he corrected._

_‘Only friend,’ she let out a giggled._

_‘Yeah… If you want to be a ranger, we should change that. Tomorrow after classes you’re not going home and study. A bunch of us are going to catch a holo show and you’re joining us. I’m not taking no for an answer.’_

_Wrapped in his arms, Karone felt a sense of peace settle over her that she hadn’t felt in years. Almost without a thought she found herself nodding. ‘I think I’d like that,’ she heard herself agreeing._


	14. Chapter 13

** Chapter 13 **

Karone couldn’t exactly explain why, but she felt something inside her shatter into a million and one pieces at Zhane’s words. Beside a slight tightening of her arms around Sky, she gave no other outward sign of how she felt. She stared at Zara as the baby happily pillowed her head against her father’s shoulder. Zhane shifted nervously from foot to foot. Eventually Karone buried everything under a practised smile.

‘She’s beautiful,’ she said and released her hold on Sky. Something must have clued the girl Karone wanted to get out of here, because she immediately hopped up and ran off, the other children following her example. ‘I should go,’ Karone muttered, getting up herself and carefully walking back into the sunshine, deliberately keeping her steps slower than she wanted them to be.

Once outside she wandered around the ruins until she heard someone call her name. Looking up she spotted the old man from earlier with a vaguely familiar man and woman. She plastered the smile back on her face and made her way over to them. ‘Kinwon,’ she properly greeted the Karovan leader now. ‘I’m sorry, you two look familiar, but I don’t remember your names,’ she continued honestly.

‘Tykwa,’ the woman nodded at her. ‘We never met, so don’t feel bad.’

‘Kaydiar,’ the man introduced himself, a smirk appearing. ‘It looks like the Megaship took quite a beating.’

‘You should’ve seen the other guy,’ Karone quickly joked. ‘But really, you should ask Zhane about it, though. I woke up from cryogenic stasis with him passed out on the floor beside the tube, badly beaten and the Megaship practically falling apart. We fixed what we could with the parts we had on the way to Eltar, took on supplies there and fixed the systems Zhane deemed essential to allow a visit here. He said you had mechanics who can help us patch her up?’

‘Eltar had mechanics too,’ Kaydiar pointed out, raising an eyebrow.

‘Mechanics with little knowledge of Karovan technology,’ Karone replied. ‘And Zhane likes to keep it that way. If they won’t share their technology with us, then he’s not sharing either.’

‘Zhane is not made for politics,’ Tykwa shook her head.

‘Maybe not, but he does have a good reason to keep your location as secret as he can,’ Karone sighed.

‘You’ve met Zara then?’ Kinwon asked gently and Karone nodded.

‘I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, really,’ Karone said ruefully. ‘He always had a way with the girls on the colony and he’d been seeing Ila for a long time. It’s good to see he’s taking responsibility and doing right by them.’

‘How long has it been since you woke up from stasis?’ Tykwa asked suddenly, changing the subject.

‘A week?’ Karone guessed, scrunching up her face in thought.

‘And you’ve been working on patching up Zhane and the Megaship, plus keeping Zhane from starting an all-out war with Eltar over our location and their cloaking technology?’ Tykwa continued.

‘Basically,’

‘Then you and Zhane are not working on fixing the ship while you’re here. Kaydiar is considered our head mechanic and he worked on building her under Argon. He’s perfectly capable of overseeing the repairs while the two of you take some time to relax,’ Tykwa ordered, before turning to an amused Kinwon. ‘What do you think?’

‘I completely agree,’ Kinwon nodded. ‘You spend thirteen months in cryogenic stasis healing from life threatening injuries. If you don’t take a break, you might just work yourself right back into it.’

Karone agreed reluctantly. They meant well and were actually right, but that didn’t mean she’d have to like it. Tykwa gently laid a hand on her arm and smiled. ‘Come on, I’ll give you the grand tour. I think we could even see about getting you a place to sleep here instead of on the ship, if you want,’ she offered, starting to lead the girl away.

‘Karone,’ Kaydiar called after them. ‘Where can we find the spare parts?’

‘Cargo bays two and three,’ Karone replied over her shoulder with a wave.

A few hours later Karone was sitting against the crumbling wall of a ruin that had been temporarily assigned to her. She’d be sleeping between boxes, but she found she didn’t mind. The first stars were starting to appear in the darkening sky and she was watching them in fascination. Already she could tell the night sky would look vastly different here than it did at home.

Someone approached cautiously, but she didn’t take her eyes off the stars. ‘Hey, could we talk?’ Zhane’s voice was unusually quiet.

‘Sure,’ Karone sighed and tore her eyes away from the sky to look at him. ‘Zara with Ila?’

‘No, Caleb is watching her for a bit,’ he answered, dropping down next to her. ‘She’s asleep now anyway.’

‘Caleb? He’s here? I didn’t see him,’ Karone exclaimed.

‘He was on outer perimeter sentry duty all day. Just got back. He was more than happy to watch his niece for a little.’

‘What about Ila?’

‘We have an agreement. Whenever I can visit, I take care of Zara, except for the nursing part. I already miss out on a lot.’

‘You could just stay here. The rebels would have a ranger to help protect them and you wouldn’t have to miss another thing. The three of you could make a happy family…’

‘No, we couldn’t,’ Zhane interrupted her, shaking his head. ‘Did you forget I told you Ila and I aren’t together? We decided whatever we had going on wasn’t a good environment for Zara. I guess we should be grateful for being young and thoughtless or it might have taken us longer to realise we were never going to work together.’

‘Oh,’ Karone muttered.

‘And as much as I hate I’m missing out on her and I can’t visit as often as I would like. What kind of example would I be setting for her if I broke a very old promise to my best friend in the whole universe?’ he smiled soflty and held out his hand to her.

She placed her hand in his and let him draw her into a one armed hug, pillowing her head on his shoulder. ‘Thanks. I’m sorry for acting the way I did.’

‘No worries, I did kind of spring her on you without a warning. And I did almost the exact same thing when I first found the rebels and Ila was obviously pregnant.’

Karone giggled. ‘And look at you now.’

‘Will you come properly meet her tomorrow?’

* * *

The metal of the ship was cold on her back, even through the layers her clothes, as she lay on its roof observing the stars. She wasn’t complaining and neither was the person lying next to her.

‘So, Eltar?’ she asked.

‘Yes, Dark Spector is gathering forces to lay a siege on it. He called Mondo to him too.’

‘I know, I was listening in on the transmission. Shame, he was keeping things somewhat interesting around here.’

‘Will you be leaving too?’

‘No, Zordon is here. Dark Spector may eventually conquer Eltar, but it’s worth nothing without a victory over Zordon too.’

‘True,’ he nodded. ‘What will you do if you’re not leaving?’

‘Spy on the rangers, do an odd job every now and then so people won’t forget about me.’

‘I’ve heard of one that might interest you when I was on Onyx. Apparently some pirate named Toxic Diva is looking for the instructions to Muranthias and the ritual of Maligore.’

‘I wonder who might have those in their possession,’ she smirked. ‘And I wonder who would spread the rumour they might be willing to sell for the right price in Onyx tavern a month from now.’

‘And what would this bounty hunter be willing to pay for the spreading of that rumour?’

Wordlessly she rolled on top of him, claiming his lips in a heated kiss.


	15. Chapter 14

** Chapter 14 **

_The sound of swords clashing together rang through the air. A rare lull in the planet’s near continuous storms had them training outside where there was more space to manoeuvre. Over the years Astrae had greatly improved. At thirteen she had gained a good few inches, her body was slowly starting to form curves. But it was the continued building of strength and agility she was most pleased with._

_Astrae spun out of the way of the swinging sword of her master. In return she drew her sword over his back. Still only being given dulled blades when training, she knew she wouldn’t be leaving any marks, but she tried to get in as many hits as she could anyway._

_After another fifteen minutes the sword flew from her hands and the tip of her master’s blade rested cold against her throat._

_‘What are you going to do now?’ Darkonda laughed at her._

_‘This,’ she smirked, moving quick as lightning. She felt the blade nick her skin, but it would be worth it if it worked. Before he had a chance to react, the sword had been pulled from Darkonda’s hands, leaving him weaponless._

_‘Very good,’ he nodded. ‘You are learning. Now give it back.’_

_‘Okay,’ Astrae shrugged and before he could so much as blink, she had driven the blade through his stomach._

_‘Astrae…’ he breathed and exploded._

_Astrae let out a relieved sigh, then sprinted into the caves. He wouldn’t be gone forever, she knew that. He’d been careless enough to brag about his nine lives, eight now, in front of her. She’d won her freedom today, but if she stayed here that would mean certain death for her._

_From a crack in the wall of her cave, she pulled the secret stash she’d managed to squirrel away over the years. Dropping the five pouches filled with small but valuable coins and gems into a large bag, she got up and went to search the rest of the caves for anything to take along._

_Her bag was half filled and she was about to leave when she brushed against a protruding rock and a section of the wall beside it slid away. Curiosity piqued, she stepped into the hidden room. Half of it looked like an armoury, the other half a trophy room. With a smirk, she went over to the trophies and shoved as much into her bag as would fit._

_Astrae picked up an ancient looking book and flipped through it. The language and symbols were unfamiliar, the drawings were pretty enough, but didn’t clear things up either. It was big too and would take up a lot of space. Still, it looked valuable enough, if anything she’d be able to sell it._

_The book had just disappeared into her bag when she noticed something glinting in the corner of her eyes. She smiled softly as her hand wrapped around Cardon’s crystal. Dropping the bag for a moment, she tied the shard back around her neck. It felt right having the weight around her neck again after so many years and she promised herself to replace the string with a real necklace chain when she had the chance._

_After stuffing a few more items in her bag, she turned to the weapons and took two blasters before leaving the lair, vowing never to come back again. Astrae boarded Darkonda’s ship and set a course to the area she last knew the Dark Fortress to be._

_It was time for Ecliptor to die too and for her and Orion to escape the life under Dark Spector’s rule._

* * *

_‘It’s time to make a final selection and present the morphers so the rangers can start their training with their powers,’ the academy head addressed his staff._

_‘I’d like to hear your suggestions and any arguments why they should or shouldn’t be a ranger.’_

_‘Fresia,’ the first teacher suggested boldly. ‘She works hard and gets good enough marks.’_

_‘But she lacks in her fighting skills,’ someone pointed out._

_‘Inside a team formation that doesn’t present a problem. Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses. What she lacks in hand to hand combat, she makes up for in the shooting range.’_

_Mutters of agreement went around the table. The head nodded and waited for more arguments to follow, but none did. ‘What colour do you suggest?’ he asked after a moment._

_‘Pink,’ was the immediate reply._

_The black and blue morphers were easily assigned too._

_‘Zhane,’ another teacher suggested. ‘He’s in the top of every class and his easy going personality manages to glue any group together.’_

_No protests were presented as everyone nodded in agreement._

_‘What colour?’ the head asked._

_‘Judging by how he’s dealt with the whole Karone situation, Red,’ the teacher spoke confidently._

_‘No,’ another protested. ‘He’s a good kid and can take control of a situation, but he’s no leader. As you mentioned, he’s the glue. He’d do better in Silver.’_

_Teachers started arguing amongst each other over which morpher would best fit the boy. Finally the head called them to order and said they’d have a vote. Ten hands went up for the red morpher and twelve for the silver one._

_‘It’s settled then. By vote, Zhane will be the silver ranger,’ the head nodded._

_‘What about Karone?’ someone suggested. ‘She’s the top student of most classes and her teamwork has greatly improved over the years.’_

_‘No,’ the head shook his head. ‘We are clear on Karone. She’s good, but not in the running for a morpher.’_

_The teacher nodded grudgingly and sat back in their chair. The other morphers were appointed with some arguments, but in the end everyone agreed on the team’s appointment._

_‘So, we are all in agreement over these rangers. We’ll have the ceremony tomorrow and start training our rangers. I’ll inform the counsel of our decision.’_

_Everyone nodded and they all got up, satisfied with the outcome of their meeting._

_Early the next morning the head of the academy was in his office. The morphers had been taken from their safe and lay in front of him. In just a few short hours they’d be around the wrists of the young people chosen the day before._

_A knock on the door startled him out of his thoughts. Tia walked in at his call, followed by the colony’s leader. He jumped up from his chair to greet Kinwon. The older man waved him back into his seat and sat down in a chair across from him, a grave look on his face._

_‘How can I help you?’_

_‘It’s not so much how you can help as much as how you’re going to deal with the news I bring,’ Kinwon sighed. ‘KO-35 was attacked by a small wave of fighter jets. They were dealt with by our fleet, but not before destroying part of a small settlement.’_

_‘That’s horrible, is everyone alright?’_

_‘No, there were several casualties,’ Kinwon muttered._

_‘We could postpone the ceremony?’_

_‘No, it will give people hope. It should continue as planned. Only… Two chosen rangers were among the casualties.’_

_‘Who?’_

_‘Cyrian,’ Kinwon pointed to one morpher before moving to point to another. ‘And Lis. The question is, can they be replaced on such short notice?’_

_‘Cyrian, no, he was the only one with true potential to lead them. I wouldn’t want to risk putting a weaker leader on the team. Ker will have to stand in as leader with his blue morpher. He is, was, second-in-command. As for Lis, there are a few options, but I’ll have to think who will be best. There are some objections to each one of them. Will you need to be informed before the ceremony?’_

_‘No, I trust your judgement.’_

_‘Good,’ the academy head nodded. ‘Because I might not make a final decision until I’m holding that morpher.’_

_Hours later the academy head stood on a stage in a packed auditorium. He took a deep breath and caught Kinwon’s eye on the front row before he started speaking._

_‘By now you will all have heard of the horrible events of last night. Our thoughts are with the victims and their families. In light of these events the training of our ranger team had become ever more important. The training has reached a stage where the final selection is made and the team starts training with their powers. Unfortunately the selection process only provided one possible red ranger. He is among last night’s victims and therefore the red morpher will be sealed back in the safe. The duties of leading the team will fall to the second-in-command and blue ranger. Ker, will you come up and claim your morpher and the duties that come with it?’_

_Applause went up as the fifteen-year-old walked down to the stage._

_‘For the black morpher, Xald. Selected for pink, Fresia. Yellow will go to Tessa and for the silver morpher we have selected Zhane.’_

_Again applause went up for the four of them. The five rangers lined up on stage, standing proudly with their morphers. The academy head sighed as he twisted one last morpher in his hands, still unsure of who to give it to. He scanned the room for the possible candidates in hopes of finding the answer. It wasn’t until he met two haunted blue eyes that he knew what the only right choice would be._

_‘Last, but certainly not least, there’s one more morpher to give. Proudly I ask you to come and claim the purple morpher… Karone.’_


	16. Chapter 15

** Chapter 15 **

Karone sat somewhat awkwardly next to Caleb, who had greeted her warmly. He looked nothing like his younger brother, with his dark hair falling into his light grey eyes. But he was just as friendly and open as Zhane. Whenever the younger brother visited, he and Zhane shared Caleb’s assigned space and that’s where she was now.

‘Say hello to your aunty Karone,’ Zhane grinned as he stepped back inside with Zara on his arm. Before she could protest, the little girl was dropped into Karone’s lap.

Stormy grey eyes observed blue for a long moment. A tentative touch, still unable of producing coherent thoughts, brushed against Karone’s mind. A second later Zara nuzzled against her, having decided she liked this woman she’d been handed to. For now anyway. Karone carefully wrapped her arms around the tiny body.

‘She’s not that fragile,’ Caleb laughed, ticking his niece’s side. Zara grumbled and tried to squirm away without leaving her comfortable spot on Karone’s lap.

‘Caleb, leave them alone,’ Zhane scowled.

Karone watched them and sighed, a sudden question burning on her tongue. Zhane eyed her and grinned.

‘What’s wrong?’

‘Well,’ she shifted somewhat uncomfortably. ‘You’ve mentioned your parents before and Caleb is here. I couldn’t help wonder about Amira.’

She got on a shuttle safely with the patients she’d been assigned to. We just don’t know where the shuttle ended up. Probably an allied planet, but no one said a word about harbouring Karovan fugitives,’ Caleb answered.

‘So, against all odds, the last we know for sure is that our families are still alive?’ Karone clarified.

‘Yes,’ Zhane smiled.

‘Wow,’ Karone breathed. Zhane dropped down in front of them, stretching out his legs and leaning back on his arms.

Karone smiled softly as she watched him. Caleb watched her, still slightly amazed at how much Zhane’s insisted friendship had managed to change her. ‘So, Karone, you’ve been in the deep freeze for a year and missed a lot. Obviously Zhane told you about Zara, but what hasn’t he told you yet?’ he asked, trying to distract her from the uncertainty.

‘Why don’t you tell me? I wouldn’t know if I missed something or not,’ Karone laughed, drawing a giggle from Zara. The two men smiled and conversation flowed easily after that, mostly between the two brothers with Karone listening contently. At some point, Zara fell asleep against her, her little fists holding tightly to Karone’s shirt.

* * *

‘It’s been awfully quiet this past month,’ Amanda mentioned as they walked out of the theatre.

‘You like being attacked and running for your life every other day?’ Carlos asked incredulously.

‘No, but since that’s become part of our daily lives here in Angel Grove, it’s kinda eerie when it stops. A calm before the storm kinda thing.’

‘Than we should enjoy it while we can,’ Ashley laughed. ‘I thought that was a good movie, didn’t see the ending coming at all. Now let’s get some food.’

‘I agree with Ashley,’ Terrence grinned. ‘No need to worry about attacks that aren’t happening. I’d rather worry about things that are happening. Like the mountain of homework waiting on my desk and that stupid chemistry test on Monday.’

Carlos groaned and his shoulders slumped. ‘Did you have to remind me?’

‘Food first,’ Sarah cut in. ‘Homework and chemistry tests can wait a little longer. Let’s focus on a more immediate problem. Where are we going to eat?’

The group laughed and a friendly argument broke out over what they felt like eating. Ashley kept quiet and let them decide. She watched the friendly interaction around her and realised she’d never felt this relaxed before. Well, that wasn’t entirely true, she mused. But she’d never been this relaxed surrounded by a crowd before.

‘Where do you want to eat, Ash?’ Carlos asked, turning to look at her.

She pondered the use of the nickname, pretending to consider the actual question. After a few moments she decided she liked it and she liked Carlos using it. ‘What about that new pizza place that opened at the food court? Mad Mike’s Pizza Parlor, I think it’s called.’

‘This girl is filled with brilliant ideas today,’ Terrence grinned, throwing an arm around Ashley’s shoulder.

‘Maybe because she’s the only one not worrying about attacks or homework and chemistry tests,’ Sarah laughed.

‘That’s because she’s top of our chemistry class,’ Peyton put in.

‘I don’t know how you do it. Chemistry is boring,’ Carlos complained.

‘With chemistry you can blow stuff up,’ Ashley shrugged.

The group fell silent for a minute, just blinking at her in astonishment. Then Amanda started laughing, the others following suit. ‘You’re worse than the guys sometimes,’ Amanda sniggered.

Ashley just shrugged again and forced herself to laugh with them. If only they knew the truth. Not that she would ever let that slip.

They continued their way, laughing and joking. Fifteen minutes later they sat in the stuffy pizza parlour. It was busy and people were sitting close together. The atmosphere was amiable and friend. Ashley smiled when Terrence placed the two large pizzas on their table and she stole a slice of the peperoni one. It was hot, cheesy with just enough spice and she bit back a moan.

‘Oh man, this is good pizza,’ Peyton grinned.

‘Yeah, we should come here more often,’ Carlos nodded.

‘Don’t we say that about every place?’ Amanda laughed. ‘You know what, we should study for that chem test after this. We’d probably be able to help each other out.’

‘We could meet up at my place,’ Carlos offered. ‘My mom won’t mind and I’m sure she’ll end up inviting you all to dinner.’

‘Ashley could tutor us,’ Terrence added.

‘Oh,’ Ashley raised an eyebrow.

‘Come on, we helped you with history,’ Carlos pointed out.

‘I guess I could,’ Ashley replied thoughtfully. ‘I’ve got nothing to do today that can’t wait.’

A cheer went up and it was quickly decided they’d split up after pizza to pick up their books and meet back up at Carlos’s. Ashley declined the offer for Carlos to drive her past her house to pick up her books first. She could dream this chapter and would go straight home with him instead.

Hours later she sat on the floor of Carlos’s living room, leaning against the couch and balancing a plate on her lap. The living room was crowded, but in a homely way, with the teenagers, Carlos’s six younger siblings and his parents all scattered around. She looked around her and smiled contently, but she couldn’t help her thoughts wandering to her own family and a life that could have been.


	17. Chapter 16

** Chapter 16 **

_Astrae sundered onto the bridge of the Dark Fortress as if she personally owned the large spaceship. The occupants of the bridge looked at her in surprise. They looked behind her waiting for Darkonda to appear, before they realised after a few moments that she was alone._

_‘Astrae?’ Orion asked eventually. ‘How did you get here?’_

_‘On the bridge of the Dark Fortress? With very little effort, really. Your security sucks. Honestly, why do you even rely on Quantrons to keep intruders off the ship?’ she smirked._

_‘Where’s Darkonda?’ Ecliptor demanded, stepping forward._

_‘Dead,’ Astrae shrugged, hopping up to sit on a console and studied her nails._

_‘Who destroyed him?’ Ecliptor growled, but Astrae picked up an undertone of rising panic that the temporary destruction of Darkonda left her unsupervised._

_‘I did,’ Astrae looked up and smirked at him._

_Ecliptor took another step forward, but Orion quickly slipped past him. He grabbed Astrae’s wrist in a vicelike grip and pulled her off the console. Ecliptor’s protests were duly ignored as he dragged her off the bridge by a different door than the one she’d come through. They only went down the corridor a little way before Orion stopped at a door and it slid open. He dragged her inside and let go of her as the door slid shut again. Astrae studied her surroundings for a moment and realised they must be in his bedroom._

_‘What did you do?’ he hissed softly._

_‘I had enough of him,’ Astrae answered, fire burning in her eyes. ‘Managed to claim his sword during training. If I hadn’t taken the opportunity it presented and killed him, there would never have been another chance. I had the element of surprise and I used it.’_

_‘So why did you come here?’_

_‘I think that’s obvious. I know you’re strong enough to get rid of Ecliptor too. If you do, we can leave and find somewhere to start over without being threatened every other day,’ Astrae explained patiently._

_‘No,’ Orion growled, his temper now flaring. ‘This was not the plan.’_

_‘What happened to defeating Ecliptor and Darkonda and finding a quiet corner of the universe where we can live life the way we want to?’ she demanded angrily. ‘Or have you forgotten about that? Because I haven’t. It’s the only reason I kept training and taken shit.’_

_‘I didn’t forget,’ he snapped back. ‘And keep your voice down. I have no doubt Dark Spector keeps spies here.’_

_‘Well, if you keep to the plan you wouldn’t have to worry about that, would you?’_

_‘Plans change,’ Orion glowered._

_‘How nice of you to inform other people when they do,’ Astrae shot back. She planted her feet firmly on the ground and crossed her arms, her eyes narrowed and she looked fully intend on staring him down._

_Orion didn’t move, but his eyes studied her. The last time they’d seen each other face to face was years ago. Gone was the little kid who stumbled around weakly as she recovered from a serious injury. She’d grown and by the way her clothes were falling around her body now, he realised she was slowly beginning to turn into a young woman. Her crossed arms were only empathising the changes her body was going through. But what really drew him in was how her eyes sparkled and burned when she was mad. His stomach twisted painfully. Astrea’s lips were slightly parted as she breathed heavily with barely controlled fury._

_His feet were moving on their own accord. Their eyes staid locked as Orion kept moving toward her. They were standing toe to toe, their hot breath mingling. Orion leaned in and crushed his lips to hers._

_The sound of skin hitting skin rang through the room. Orion jumped back holding his cheek. Astrae shot him one last indignant glare, before turning on her heels and storming from the room. Orion watched her go, the temporary fog that had settled over his mind lifting. He dropped to his bed with a sinking feeling in his stomach. He got the feeling he just lost the only person in the universe whom was truly on his side. He couldn’t even explain to himself why he refused to walk to the bridge and get rid of Ecliptor when she asked. Some beast within him had roared that this was all wrong. She wasn’t supposed to get rid of Darkonda, he should have done it for her. And now he’d probably never see her again._

_Astrae stomped back to the bridge, though her feet made little sound. She was fuming, feeling betrayed, confused and utterly alone. Voices drifting from the open door to the bridge had her stop in her tracks just before she’d have come into view. She slunk into the shadows and listened in._

_‘She has become a liability. Please allow me to destroy her,’ Ecliptor was saying. ‘Her mutiny against Darkonda may point to a deeper train of thoughts and plans to rebel. And by allowing the two to ally themselves all this time, she holds a greater sway over Orion than we thought she would. In my opinion as long as she is free and alive, Orion’s allegiance cannot be trusted either.’_

_‘No,’ a deep voice rumbled with authority. ‘You claim her allegiance should be put into question merely because she managed to take one of Darkonda’s lives. He has many and it shows more not to underestimate either of them. Slaves have rebelled before. Gasket rebelled against Mondo and yet still serves me. I will not let you get rid of a possible valuable asset until you can provide me proof she’s gone rogue.’_

_‘Yes, Dark Spector,’ Ecliptor grumbled unhappily and Astrae smirked. ‘If she played her cards right she could get revenge for all that was done to her on Dark Spector’s orders while looking like she was serving old crater face still._

_Obviously the connection was cut and she listened to Ecliptor’s heavy footsteps leave the bridge, barking an order to the Quantrons to keep a close eye on her. Astrae smirk grew wider as she spotted the entrance to an air duct across from her. It was wide enough to fit through once she worked the grate off, but its fixtures looked flimsy enough to do that quietly._

_Fifteen minutes later she quietly dropped to the floor in one of the hanger bays where she’d left Darkonda’s ship, not a single Quantron was in sight. Astrae knew she’d outstayed her welcome here and she briefly wondered where to go next. The answer came to her as she boarded. If Dark Spector wanted proof of her allegiance, the best place to find it was Onyx. The coordinates were easily programmed into the computer and soon the little ship entered hyperrush._

_She’d have to ditch it as soon as she arrived on Onyx. Darkonda could track her much too easily if she kept using his ship. Maybe she could even score a better ship while she was at it._

_Her thoughts drifted off as she mulled over what to do next, but every time Orion’s face drifted up and interrupted them. The ghost of his touch still lingered on her lips, leaving a tingling sensation. It startled her when she caught herself unconsciously touching her fingers to her lips. If she was honest too herself, hitting him had been more a surprised reflex than anything else. The kiss had not been unpleasant and her stomach twisted when she thought back to it._

_A lonely sadness washed over her as realisation hit that she might have just lost her only true ally in the whole universe. Astrae sifted into a slightly more comfortable position in the chair and settled in for the trip to Onyx that would take several hours according to the ship’s computer. She felt lost and entirely alone with no clue what to do next._

_Astrae’s eyes shot open when the computer beeped, indicating landing procedures were being initiated. She hadn’t even realised she’d fallen asleep. Her muscles protested as she uncurled from the chair and stretched. It didn’t take her long to gather her belongings and she was ready to leave by the time the skip touched down. She left the doors wide open, hoping for someone to either steal it or the sand blowing in to put it out of commission._

_Keeping her head high, she stalked through the little town to the tavern, hoping to find some inspiration to prove her loyalty there or otherwise get some advice from Cardon. In the tavern she sat down at the bar and ordered an Onyx juice special. The barman looked at her suspiciously, but served her anyway when she produced the pay for the drink._

_As she sipped the vile drink her eyes strayed to the posters offering bounty. It was what Darkonda had trained her for and just maybe it was a way to prove herself. Astrae was about to take a second sip when she spotted the poster that would have her set and then some. Slowly she lowered the goblet back to the bar and studied the poster more closely._

_Dark Spector was offering a bounty on the head of one of his more trusted generals. It didn’t say way, but it wasn’t hard to guess. Layrus had gotten side-tracked over the years. Being so comfortable and secure in his position, he thought himself untouchable and let his interests stray further and further away from conquering. Not too long ago she’d visited his fortress delivering a “package” without Darkonda._

_The bounty on his head had been crossed out and raised several times. Apparently attempts had been made, but most likely failed. Unsurprisingly, Layrus’s fortress was virtually impregnable and he never left it. But the higher the bounty, the more ferocious the attempts were likely to get._

_Setting her jaw, Astrae drained her drink as a plan started to form in her mind. She was going to get that bounty and it would take surprisingly little effort on her part as she held an advantage over every other bounty hunter visiting Onyx. She was young and with her magic, she could make her features resemble Layrus’s tastes exactly._

_She slammed the empty goblet down on the bar and gathered her belongings again, bounding up the stairs to Cardon’s chambers. He opened the door moments after her knock and let her in, looking slightly surprised to see her._

_‘Astrae, I had not heard Darkonda arrived.’_

_‘He hasn’t and he won’t for a while. I’m not exactly sure how long it takes him to regenerate,' she shrugged._

_‘What happened to him?’ Cardon inquired._

_‘I did,’ Astrae answered with a proud smirk. ‘But that’s not why I’m here exactly. I could use your help. Would you mind keeping my stuff safe for me for a while? There’s a bounty I’m going to claim, but my plan won’t work if I have it with me or I’ll risk getting it taken away from me.’_

_‘Of course,’ Cardon nodded. ‘What are you going to do?’_

_‘I’m going to get myself sold as a slave so I can get close enough to kill the unkillable,’ Astrae told him calmly, her eyes turning cold._

_Cardon’s mouth dropped open._


	18. Chapter 17

** Chapter 17 **

Golden eyes studied the patrons of the tavern. Astrae sat wrapped in a cloak in a dark corner of the room. The Muranthias scroll was safely hidden in its folds. She’d been waiting for several hours now and getting impatient. If this Toxic Diva didn’t show up soon, she was leaving.

Just as she was finishing the last of her drink, a scantily clad woman marched into the tavern room. Her face was half hidden by a fake-gold mask over her eyes. She was joined by a lumbering monster, armoured in blue, and a dimwit with an elongated head and blue nose, wildly swinging his sword. The woman stalked over to the bar and called the attention of the bartender in a loud voice. Beside the bartender’s attention, those patrons not watching her yet now were.

‘I’m looking for Astrae,’ she shrilled.

The bartender nodded to Astrae’s dark corner without a word and went back to serving his costumers. The woman sundered over and dropped into the chair across from the young bounty hunter. Her two henchmen remained standing, towering over them.

‘Rumour has it you have the Maranthias scroll for sale,’ the woman spoke, trying to study Astrae’s face from under her hood. Astrae merely nodded, observing the woman in silence. ‘Well, where is it?’ the woman demanded.

Astrae raised an eyebrow at her impatience. Her manner betrayed she either came from a corner of the universe where Astrae’s name was less well known, and feared, or she didn’t care about the stories she heard. From her air, Astrae guessed it might be the later. The woman seemed to think she was the ruler of the universe and everyone she met was beneath her. Obviously she was not enough of a threat for Dark Spector to have taken notice of it… yet. The woman was getting more impatient by the moment, much to Astrae’s amusement, seeing how long she had been kept waiting.

‘Shouldn’t we discuss a price first?’ Astrae finally spoke.

‘I don’t discuss prices before I see the wares,’ the woman snapped.

Astrae’s eyes narrowed, but she reached into her cloak and pulled out the scroll. She kept her hand on it and an eye on the woman across from her, who was now eyeing the table with a hungry look. ‘So, about that price,’ Astrae smirked. ‘I would think half a million zenebatar would be fair.’

‘What?!’ the blue armoured monster exclaimed.

‘And you tell me I’m dim, aunty D,’ blue nose laughed.

‘Who do you think you are, varmint?’

‘Someone who gets whatever price they ask for their services,’ Astrae shrugged calmly. Rage darkened the woman’s face, but the young bounty hunter didn’t flinch. She was going to get her money and not a coin less, she always did.

Raised voices upstairs started to draw the attention away from the deal she was making. Astrae ignored them, keeping a close eye on her potential buyer. A door opened and she recognized one of the voices now to be Cardon’s. The woman and her party glanced away for a moment to identify the source of the disturbance.

A chill ran down Astrae’s spine when she suddenly realised she knew the second angry voice too. She knew it all too well. A quick look confirmed her thoughts and her eyes narrowed. Her moment’s distraction was all her buyer needed, unfortunately. Astrae felt the parchment being ripped from under her fingers. When she looked back, the woman and her goons were already halfway to the door. She jumped up and gave chase, charging a blast of her magic to her hand.

In the door opening the woman turned and waved the parchment above her head. ‘Remember this day, varmint. You are not all powerful. Viva la Diva!’ she called, before disappearing through the door.

Astrae followed, but already knew it was useless. When she got outside, the woman and the two monsters had disappeared. Letting lose a loud string of curses she turned on her heels and stormed back inside. Cardon was still arguing with the same monster on the balcony. She happily released the blast of magic still gathered in her hand, and some of her frustration, on the back of the monster.

The monster tumbled backwards over the railing and crashed to the tavern’s floor where he lay stunned for a moment. Astrae bounded across the room and had her hands on his sword before he could recover.

‘Hello, Darkonda, long time no seen,’ she purred.

Darkonda opened his mouth to reply, but was stabbed with his sword several times and disintegrated. The tavern had fallen quiet, but as the sword disappeared from Astrae’s hands and she dusted them off, the noise picked up again.

‘Astrae,’ Cardon sighed above her. She looked up at him, silently challenging him to make a remark. He just shook his head and gestured for her to come up. She squared her shoulders and held her head high as she ascended the stairs. Silently they moved into his rooms and he closed the door behind them. ‘What was that about?’ he asked.

‘He distracted me and my client stole from me,’ Astrae shrugged. ‘And he’s done enough to deserve every one of his deaths.’

‘Without a doubt,’ Cardon agreed. ‘Doesn’t get you your ware or money, though. Divatox is a tough one.’

‘Divatox? Well, I guess it makes more sense than Toxic Diva. Won’t matter much what her name is, I’ll get what I’m due form her, one way or another.’

‘From anyone else, I would doubt that statement. But you’re not like anyone else. So, where do you keep disappearing to all the time? No one seems to know what you’re up to anymore when you’re not here these days.’

‘Exactly how I like it,’ Astrae smiled mysteriously.

* * *

Karone slowly woke up and nuzzled deeper into the warmth surrounding her. The body in bed next to her stirred and an arm tightened around her. ‘Morning,’ his voice breathed in her ear, sending shivers down her spine with the tickling sensation.

‘Morning,’ she whispered back.

‘Regrets?’

‘No,’ she shook her head a little to empathise. ‘You were right, it would’ve been too soon yet.’

‘And as much as I love Zara and having her in my life, she will just have to be patient for a few more years before I’m willing to think about getting her a sibling,’ Zhane replied.

‘Ranger business first, save the universe and then see where we stand,’ Karone agreed. ‘Until then, safety first.’ She craned her neck a little and captured his lips. Zhane allowed her a long taste before pulling back. Karone made a sound in protest, causing him to laugh at her.

‘We should get up, we have work to do.’

Karone made a face, but pulled away and got out of bed. She pulled on her shirt to straighten it a little as Zhane rolled to his feet next to her.

‘I’m going to take a shower, I’ll see you at breakfast in a bit,’ he told her, giving her a quick peck on the lips before disappearing into the bathroom.

Karone left his room and crossed the hall to her own for a shower and a fresh uniform. Two weeks, she smiled at herself, just two weeks since Zhane made a tentative move on her. He really was right last night that things were going too far too fast when he put the brakes on and it melted her heart.

She couldn’t quite believe that of all the girls on KO-35, he’d secretly had a crush on her for years. He had admitted that and that he never flirted with her because he was scared he’d push her away or give her the impression she was like any of the other girls.

A giggle escaped her lips as she rummaged through her closed to gather clean clothes. He might actually have been right about that. But ever since she woke up from cryogenic stasis and found him unconscious on the floor next to her, her heart had been touched. His drugged up kiss had only served to have her feelings fly all over the place. And now the truth was finally out and she felt like she was walking on air for the past two weeks.

He wanted _her_ , all of her, and that made her feel beautiful in a way she had never felt before. Him wanting them to wait a little longer and not rush into this told her he really was serious about making them work.

Karone was glad she had met Zara before she and Zhane got together. The idea of him being a father was still weird, but it was growing on her. She’d worry about being a step-mother later, though apparently Ila knew about Zhane’s feelings for her and had pushed him to pursue her. So, obviously she approved of her possibly becoming a large part of their daughter’s life.

However, for now their first priority was being a ranger and battling the Alliance of Evil. She’d just have to wait and see where this thing would take her.


	19. Chapter 18

** Chapter 18 **

_With a smirk on her face, Astrae sundered into Onyx tavern carrying a sack. Gone were shapeless clothes that hung awkwardly around her. She wore tight leather black pants, a black leather bodice and high heeled boots that reached up to her knees. The forming curves of her body were on full display and drew the attention of many of the patrons. The girl ignored them all and walked up to the bar._

_Everyone watched as she swung the sack onto the bar and pulled it open. A collective gasp went up in the tavern when a head rolled out._

_‘I believe you owe me a bounty of two million zenebatar,’ Astrae told the bartender calmly. He blinked at her a few times before grunting a reply and stalked off to arrange her payment._

_‘Now what is a little girl like you going to do with two million zenebatar in a place like this?’ a tall monster leered down at her._

_‘Not spend it all in one place and definitely don’t spend it all on you,’ Astrae replied in a bored tone._

_‘And you think you can stop me, or anyone else here, taking it from you?’ the monster laughed, grabbing her arm tightly._

_‘I don’t think that,’ Astrae smirked and placed her free hand over his. Golden sparkles crackled around it. ‘I know I can stop any one of you.’ The sparkles released from her hand and travelled up her arm. The monster screamed in pain, but could not pull away. When the bartender returned, Astrae finally let the monster go. He fell to the floor unconscious, twitching every once in a while. ‘Anyone else interested in stealing my bounty from me?’ The tavern stayed quiet. ‘I didn’t think so.’_

_The bartender handed her the bounty. Astrae nodded at him and turned to the stairs. Cardon was already waiting for her in his door opening. He studied her attire with a slightly cocked head, but didn’t comment. The door closed behind them and Astrae moved around the room, studying the new wares._

_‘It didn’t take you too long to collect that bounty on Layrus,’ Cardon commented._

_‘I knew how to get in,’ Astrae smiled and waved her hand over her face. Her hair turned into blonde curls and her eyes an ice blue. The illusion held for but a moment before turning back. ‘The outfit he used for his bedroom slaves. It’s the only time to catch him off guard. Oh wait, I should say “was”.’_

_Cardon watched the girl carefully, glad his face was always hidden under a hood, behind a mask. She was more dangerous than they’d given her credit for. He just wasn’t sure if it was survival instinct, born of years under Darkonda’s care, or spoke of her character too. He did realise that even though he knew not to underestimate her, that’s what he just did. ‘What happened to the other slaves?’_

_‘They’re being repurposed,’ the girl shrugged._

_Cardon waited for her to elaborate, but she didn’t. He knew asking her to explain was useless. He and Darkonda had taught her too well already. Information was precious and expensive, Astrae wouldn’t let anything slip that she couldn’t ask a hefty price for. And he was sure she’d just set the first step to becoming well known, sought after, feared and hated throughout much of the universe._

_‘I came for my stuff,’ Astrae said when the silence stretched too long._

_Cardon nodded and moved to hand her the bag he’d been keeping for her. ‘I’ve got a buyer interested in the book that’s in there. They were in the bag before I could stop them. I’ve got contact details if you’re interested in selling.’_

_‘Well, I can’t read it. The pictures are pretty enough, but I brought it with me to sell. Looks like it could go for much too,’ Astrae agreed, as she took the bag and contact details. ‘The Cerberus Galaxy, it’s only a little off course from where I’m going next. Until next time, Cardon.’_

_The merchant watched her go, chills running down his spine. He knew exactly what the book was and what it could do if it fell in the wrong hands. And he also knew there was nothing he could do to stop the sale. Galaxies lost were better if they remained lost._

_Outside of town Astrae uncloaked the ship she’d stolen from Layrus’s collection. It was a small fighter of the latest Eltaran design, with a tiny cockpit and just about functional living compartment. The ship also had a torpedo bay for four torpedoes. However, since there were no torpedoes and getting her hands on them would probably cost her dearly, she had decided to use it as a cargo bay instead. The lasers on the ship were powerful enough that the torpedoes weren’t necessarily needed anyway._

_Once everything was put away, she entered the cockpit and pressed a sequence of buttons that opened a communications channel. A girl with green skin and purple hair and eyes appeared on the screen. ‘You got everything?’ she asked._

_‘Yes, I’m about to take off and slave your ship to mine again and we’ll be on our way. Is everyone still sure they want to do this? Last chance of jumping ship,’ Astrae warned._

_‘Positive,’ the girl nodded._

_‘Okay, then we’ll be on our way to Rigah before meeting Dark Spector’s army at the Titan Nebula.’_

_The girl’s eyes burned with a fire of determination. ‘We will be ready. I don’t care how long this will take, none of us do.’_

_‘Good, because this is going to take years and it’s going to be dangerous. Not everyone is going to survive,’ Astrae warned._

_‘If this works, the sacrifices will be worth it.’_

_‘I will see you soon, Nya,’ Astrae nodded and sighed off. With the next sequence of buttons the engine hummed to life, she entered the coordinates where the larger freight carrier was orbiting another planet. As the fighter took off she reflected on the dangerous game she was about to play. Nya was right, though, if they could pull it off it was going to be worth it. All they could do was wait and see._

_Two days later Astrae walked the muddy fields of Rigah to a cluster of grassy hills. In her arms she held what appeared to be a large bundle of cloth. As she neared the hills, the inhabitants started to appear outside of them, staring up at her. Astrae kept looking straight ahead, not letting them know she was studying the creatures too. Most adults of their species only reached up to her waist, the tallest might reach her chest in height, but she already towered over them all. They had an insect-like appearance, with bulging eyes, antennae, 6 limbs and a brown-green scaly skin._

_At a hill in the middle of the little village she stopped. A family was gathered in front of it, staring up at her in fright._

_‘You offered a reward for information that may lead to your missing son,’ she spoke, allowing the translation device to make herself understood._

_When the tallest creature made an affirmative sound, she lowered the bundle to the ground and pulled it open. An ethereal screech filled the air as a broken and bloodied face was revealed. Not a muscled moved on Astrae’s face as cries of outrage rose around her._

_‘You expect us to reward you?’ the tall creature pointed at her._

_‘He was already dead when I found him. Since I can’t sell him on as a slave again, his body may as well be useful to me in another way. It’s a simple business transaction to me. You wanted your son, I want your money,’ Astrae told him coldly, golden sparkles appearing between her fingers when she noticed other creatures advancing on her._

_Half an hour later she left the planet with the money in her pocket and her name and a ruthless reputation spreading quickly around the allied planets in the universe. Every Power Ranger would soon know her name…_


	20. Chapter 19

** Chapter 19 **

‘Forces seem to be moving in the direction of Eltar, almost as if Dark Specter is planning to lay siege to them. Do you think we should warn Drai?’ Karone asked, looking up from her scanner read-outs.

‘You are welcome to try, but I doubt the pompous ass will listen to you. They’ve grown too full of themselves, thinking they are better than us because Eltar is Zordon’s home planet. Sometimes I think they’re forgetting he’s been happily making home on Earth and not returned to Eltar in centuries,” Zhane sighed in reply. “As much as I hate to see a repeat of KO-35, I’m not sure Drai will heed our warning.’

‘Yeah, I picked up on that while I was on the planet. But we should still try, shouldn’t we?’

‘If only to keep our conscience clear when things go wrong,’ Zhane nodded, then smirked. ‘And we can say “I told you so”.’

Karone rolled her eyes and punched his shoulder. ‘Deca, contact Eltar.’

The AI’s eye blinked at her in acknowledgement. Minutes slowly ticked by in silence and the two rangers went back to work as they waited. Finally Deca announced the call was answered. They got up and straightened their uniforms before nodding to Deca’s eye to open the video link. The stern face of the Eltaran Red Ranger appeared on screen, looking bored and slightly annoyed for being interrupted.

‘What?’ he all but snapped.

‘Hello to you too, Drai,’ Zhane nodded tightly.

‘Finally changed your mind and realised you can’t keep the rebels safe on your own?’

‘He’s not on his own,’ Karone said through clenched teeth. ‘Let us worry aobut our people and you just worry about yours.’

‘And what is that supposed to mean?’ Drai demanded, looking furious.

‘Over the past couple of months our scanners have been tracking movements of Dark Specter’s army. A rather large part seems to be congregating on Eltar,’ Karone informed him.

Drai scoffed at them. ‘Have your scanners also picked up on the wormhole that has formed a passage between Eltar and Earth? With Zordon coming home, Dark Specter will not dare touch us.’

Zhane and Karone looked at each other in shock, eyes wide. Zhane was the first to recover.

‘Zordon will only make a victory over Eltar even greater. We’ve lived through an invasion before,’ he said urgently.

‘Barely,’ Karone whispered under her breath.

‘You can fight at first, but you’re only a few against a hundred thousand. For ever enemy that falls, two will take its place, all fresh and ready to fight. You may hold out for a while still, but in the end exhaustion will win out and Eltar will be overrun, if that’s Dark Specter’s will. People will die and there is a chance you will lose rangers if you don’t act now,’ Zhane pressed.

‘Eltar is not KO-35,’ Drai snapped. ‘You’d do well to remember that. Now I have more important matters to tend to than your ramblings.’

The screen turned black without a word of goodbye. Karone dropped into the nearest chair, defeated, as Zhane stood frozen, muscles tense and hands balled into fists so tight his knuckles turned white. Karone jumped when Zhane spun around with a scream of rage and hit the nearest wall. His shoulders started shaking and she got up and wrapped her arms around his waist. It was obvious his mind had left the here and now and returned him to the fire, smoke and ashes of KO-35.

Karone rested her head against his shoulder and held him tight. ‘What happened to them?’ she whispered, blinking back her own tears. He hadn’t mentioned the other rangers before and she didn’t ask.

‘Xald and Fresia… they didn’t make it,’ Zhane choked. ‘The last I heard of Ker, he was so mangled they had to amputate a lower leg and it wasn’t sure if they’d be able to save his other leg or his arm. And Tessa… sweet but fierce and independent Tessa… she had a severe spinal injury. There were good hopes for her recovery, but it was going to take years. It hurt so much to see her reduced to a body of misery, dependent on others for everything but breathing.’

Karone squeezed his waist and cried softly on his shoulder for their friends. They stood like that for a while longer until Karone pulled back and forced Zhane to turn around and face her. She took his hand in hers and gently prodded it. When Zhane hissed softly, she sighed and wiped her eyes on her sleeve. ‘You probably broke it,’ she muttered. ‘Let’s go to the infirmary and get it wrapped up.’

The silver ranger nodded meekly and allowed himself to be pulled into the Megalift.

Work was left forgotten on the bridge.

* * *

‘Well, the quiet was nice while it lasted,’ a voice sighed next to her.

‘Guess they were right doing those monster drills,’ someone else agreed. ‘Who do you think wants us dead now?’

‘Who cares? The rangers stopped them. What do you think those lights are?’ yet another voice put in and the owner of the voice pointed into the sky at two streaks of light.

‘Shooting stars,’ she heard herself say. ‘Look guys, it’s been fun, but I just remembered I have something I need to do.’

It surprised her how no one even questioned it. They just said their goodbyes and let her leave. She started off in a random direction, navigating the streets until she reached the road into the desert hills outside town. After glancing over her shoulder to make sure no one was around, she left the road and lost herself among the hills. After half an hour’s walk she reached her destination.

With the push of a button on her watch a hatch opened up in the air and she walked up the ramp into the cook interior of her ship. With a thought her hair turned back to black and her eyes coloured their normal gold.

On the bridge she opened a secure link and only had to wait a moment for it to be answered.

‘Astrae,’ Orion greeted, his eyes roaming her body.

‘Orion,’ she smirked back. ‘The wizard has left the planet.’ A few more button pushes and a screen in front of her sprang to life. ‘My scanners say he’s used a natural wormhole to ravel back to Eltar.’

Orion’s eyes light up. ‘That wormhole travel must have been cloaked from our scanners. Dark Specter was monitoring it very closely and said it wasn’t used for travel. Does this mean you’ll join me on the Dark Fortress now?’

‘I might be persuaded,’ Astrae grinned at him. ‘Though things did become interesting again. A monster showed up and the rangers upgraded their powers.’

‘Who would be attacking Earth now? I’ve not heard any chatter in the ranks.’

‘My scanners are working on that now,’ Astrae replied and looked back down at the screen. ‘Analysing vapour trails the new failed invader is…’

‘Well?’ Orion pressed when she stopped. Astrae looked up and the murderous fury her saw in her eyes was usually preserved for Darkonda especially.

‘Divatox,’ she growled.

‘I’ll see you when she’s dead.’


	21. Chapter 20

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A thank you to my friend RussianWitch for the wonderful suggestion of using the word "overweening".  
> Don't look her up, she's a twisted little shit.

** Chapter 20 **

_Astrae was kneeling in front of Dark Specter, Orion beside her. They hadn’t purposely avoided each other when she arrived hours earlier, but this was the first time they caught more than a quick glimpse of the other. But right now keeping a blank face was more important than figuring out where she and Orion stood._

_‘You have done well, Astrae,’ Dark Specter complimented. ‘You have proven yourself a very useful asset. And brining those slaves to sell on was a masterful idea. Most would’ve either slaughtered them or not bothered to take note of them at all.’_

_‘They are well trained and are turning a tidy profit. It would have been a shame to waste perfectly good wares,’ she answered._

_‘Darkonda is not happy about the life he lost, however,’ Dark Specter continued._

_‘He has enough left,’ Astrae shrugged. ‘I’ve outgrown him and he was too blind to see. Got what he deserved if you ask me.’_

_‘And so he did,’ Dark Specter agreed. ‘He was slowly growing too overweening. Stay here a little while and sell your slaves, I’ll have a job for you to do soon. Orion can put you up on the Dark Fortress.’_

‘That will go over well.’ _She heard Orion’s voice, but was almost positive he hadn’t spoken._

_‘Yes, Dark Specter,’ they spoke together before rising to their feet. They left the room and the moment they were alone, Astrae slammed Orion into a wall._

_‘What was that supposed to mean about “going over well”?’ she demanded._

_‘You heard that?’ Orion asked, his eyes growing wide._

_‘Yes, I heard that.’_

‘Astrae… I thought that.’

_She heard the words, but his lips didn’t move. Orion watched Astrae’s eyes grow wide for a moment. It surprised him when her expression turned thoughtful a second later. He stood frozen, trying to control his thoughts and not have them wonder due to their close proximity. It was what messed them up in the first place._

‘I guess not.´

_Her mouth hadn’t moved, but he was sure it was her voice._

_‘What not?’ he dared ask._

_Her face brightened and she stepped back, catching his hand. ‘Come on, we’ve got to dock my fighter on your fortress,’ she said over her shoulder as she dragged him along._ ‘And fi… out… this works.’

_Orion instantly knew she was planning something. He wasn’t sure he liked it, but he was glad she didn’t seem to hate him right now. Dark Specter’s army was a cold and lonely place without an ally. He would never say it out loud, but he’d missed not being able to call whenever he felt like it and just talk. So, instead of protesting, Orion allowed Astrae to continue dragging him along._

_They sat squashed together in the cockpit of her fighter for the short flight from Dark Specter’s ship to the fortress. Ecliptor was waiting to greet them in the fighter bay and didn’t look happy when he spotted Astrae._

_‘My prince,’ he greeted. ‘I have an attack organized and awaiting your order.’_

_‘Yes, yes, send out the velocifighters already and decimate another wave of Mondo’s cogs. He’ll bow to Dark Specter soon enough. Now, I will be in my room and do not wish to be disturbed,’ Orion waved him away. It was his turn to catch Astrae by the wrist and drag her along. The fact she didn’t protest only raised his suspicions._

_Once the bedroom door closed behind the, he rounded on her. ‘What are you up to?’ he demanded._

_Astrae shook her head and looked at him intently. The silence stretched and Orion started losing his patience. Astrae got a frustrated look and her face slowly turned red. Orion let out a sigh when he realised what she was trying to do._

‘Relax,’ _he tried to tell her and caught her hand to lead her over to the bed._ ‘I think it works better if you don’t try to force it.’ _He sat down on the bed and patted the spot beside him._

‘Why is this ea… for you?’ _she complained with a huff, crossing her arms and dropping down on the spot he indicated._

 _Orion smirked at her._ ‘I don’t know. Why is this important anyway?’

‘To talk freely,’ _Astrae grinned, her “voice” slightly clearer this time._ ‘You said Da… Specter is pro… spying on …’

‘Okay, now I know you’re up to something,’ _he accused, turning so he was sitting cross-legged on his bed, facing her._

‘May…’ _Astrae nodded._ ‘But until we get … working prop… You won’t know about …’

‘You’re the one needing practise,’ _Orion smirked again._ ‘So practise. How did you get close enough to Layrus to get his head?’

_With pride Astrae told him about letting herself be sold on a black market slave auction that even most of Onyx didn’t know about. She’d made sure Layrus’s buyer was there and matched her features to Layrus’s preferences for his bed slaves. Astrae noted she’d been just the right age too. As she progressed through her story of living with the slaves for a few days before the summons to Layrus’s bedchamber came, her voice started slowly becoming clearer, gaining in strength. Astrae had settled cross-legged to face Orion now and he listened with pride as she finished her story with how she overpowered Layrus before he could so much as lay a hand on her._

_Footsteps in the hall drew their attention and they realised how much time must have passed since they’d actually spoken a word._

‘Ecliptor,’ _Orion noted urgently._ ‘He will barge in here to see why we’re being so quiet.’

_Before he could register what happened, Astrae launched at him and pushed him onto his back. Her lips hungrily started attacking his, hands buried in his hair. Orion had just enough time to wrap his arms around her before the door opened._

_‘Forgive me, my Prince,’ Ecliptor said with disdain and some disappointment. ‘I thought you might be wanting something to eat.’_

_‘Set it down somewhere and leave us,’ Orion answered, making a show of reluctantly pulling his lips away from Astrae’s. She toyed with a lock of his hair as they watched Ecliptor put down the food and leave again._ ‘Last time I got slapped,’ _Orion eyed Astrae suspiciously once the door closed, but Astrae didn’t seem to have any thought of moving._

‘Last time you surprised me and I was angry with you,’ _Astrae shrugged._

‘Well then, don’t stop in case he comes back again.’

‘I didn’t intend to,’ _Astrae smirked and moved to reclaim his lips._ ‘Now, about me being up to something…’

* * *

_Zhane spotted the small shuttle among the debris of the once bustling capitol of KO-35. He steered his glider over and jumped off, demorphing in mid-air. Immediately his nose was assaulted by the smell and he tried not to gag. The soldiers saluted him, but it felt wrong somehow, here, between the rubble of the colony they had failed. He was only sixteen, but he already felt so much older._

_‘Zhane,’ the soldier in charge greeted. ‘Any word on the other rangers?’_

_Zhane shook his head. ‘Karone is currently in cryogenic stasis on the Megaship and Tessa is on a medical shuttle. I’ll be visiting her as soon as I may. Unfortunately her injuries are of such a nature she won’t be able to serve as a ranger any time soon. I’ll have to go collect her morpher.’_

_The soldier nodded solemnly. ‘Let us hope for the best. I would talk longer but we have to move, there’s no telling how long we’ll have.’ He turned to address the waiting group of soldiers. ‘We’re going to move out. It’s not going to be easy, but remember our mission; we’re here to look for survivors and nothing more. As far as we know we could be attacked at any time. As hard as it will be, leave the corpses where they lay. Let’s spread out and meet back here in two hours if all goes well. If there is an attack we fall back here earlier. Keep a line open and check in regularly,’ he ordered and handed Zhane a communication device for over his ear._

_Zhane accepted it and fastened it to his ear. ‘I last saw Ker when the council tower came down on him as he was helping the evacuation. Would you mind sending a few men there while I search for Xald and Fresia?’_

_‘I’ll send four men over,’ the soldier agreed. ‘Keep safe and remember to check in.’_

_Zhane nodded and moved out in the opposite direction of the council tower ruins. His steps were rushed, trying to ignore the smell he couldn’t escape. Every so often he stopped to check a body he encountered for a pulse, but never found one. When he spotted Xald he was already sure the black ranger hadn’t made it. Still, Zhane checked his friend’s neck, but found no pulse. With a heavy heart the silver ranger removed the morpher from the cold wrist. ‘Rest,’ he muttered. ‘You have fought well.’_

_A few blocks down he found Fresia, her body covering that of a young girl no older than five. Both lay unmoving and Zhane found no pulse on either of them. He removed Fresia’s morpher and felt helpless that he couldn’t do more. Stroking her hair once, he got up and turned his back._

_After two hours he had circled back to the rendezvous point, empty handed but for the two morphers. Two people were standing outside the shuttle with the soldiers, their clothing torn, but looking otherwise to be in fairly good health._

_Everyone was watching as a stretcher was carried on board._

_Zhane was nearly on top of them before anyone acknowledged him. The soldier in charge greeted him solemnly, holding out a third morpher to him._

_‘Ker?’ Zhane asked, fighting back tears._

_‘Alive, for now,’ the soldier assured him. ‘But he’s badly injured. We’re rushing him to the nearest available medical ship. Where is the ship with Tessa?’_

_Zhane gave the coordinates in a daze and offered to escort them with the Megaship. A cold feeling was slowly creeping up his spine. He had never felt this hopeless and alone before. He was the only ranger in the line of the Karovan defence left standing and the thought left him feeling empty and scared._


	22. Chapter 21

** Chapter 21 **

Ashley was walking calmly through the chaos on the streets of Angel Grove. Fire erupted around faster than the fire department could extinguish it. A present spread by Divatox’s new flavour of the week that was rampaging through the city, thirty feet tall.

She turned into an ally and spotted Carlos a little ahead. A moment later a hoard of people came running around the corner. Ashley pressed up against a wall and encouraged the people to go on and get to safety. When she turned to continue on her way, she came face to helmet with the yellow ranger escorting a group of kids.

‘Could you get them to safety?’ the yellow ranger asked.

Inwardly Ashley cursed, but she didn’t let it show and smiled at the ranger. ‘Sure,’ she nodded, allowing a girl with minor burns on her arms to be transferred to her.

‘They’ve got an emergency shelter set up at the Youth Centre,’ Carlos’s voice sounded behind her.

‘Let’s go,’ Ashley said, turning to face him.

Together they herded the group of children through the streets. The hurt girl in Ashley’s arms clung tightly to her neck.

‘Want me to take her?’ Carlos offered after a little while.

‘No, I’ve got her,’ Ashley declined, tightening her hold on the girl.

Ten minutes later they finally arrived at the Youth Centre. Most children dispersed, knowing they were relatively safe now. Carlos assured the stragglers that their parents would find them here and it was okay to go play.

Ashley watched a woman with shocking blonde hair make a beeline for her.

‘She needs medical attention?’ It was more a statement than a question and the woman immediately examined the girl’s burns. ‘I can treat these,’ she assured. ‘But it’s going to hurt some. Would you mind holding here while I wrap the burns?’

Ashley blinked at her, processing the words that had tumbled from the woman’s mouth. Eventually she nodded and followed her to a room that was set up with cots. She sat down with the girl in her lap, hugging her close and whispering a story she had heard Carlos read to his younger siblings in her ear, while the woman rubbed a cream on the burns before wrapping them. The woman worked in silence, the girl sniffling every so often as Ashley continued her story interwoven with encouraging words.

Once it was done the girl ran off to play. The woman caught Ashley’s eye and held out her hand with a smile. ‘Thanks for your help. You’re good with kids. I’m Amira by the way.’

‘Ashley,’ Ashley replied, shaking her hand.

‘It’s nice meeting you, Ashley,’ Amira nodded. ‘Could I call on you if I need any more help today?’

Ashley fumed inside. She couldn’t say “no” without good reason and that meant she’d be stuck here until the attack was over. It meant her plans were bust. Instead of letting her frustration show, a smile was plastered on her face as she nodded. ‘Yeah, sure.’

For a time she busied herself with entertaining the children. Their innocence fascinated her, as well as their naivety. Even growing up with monster attacks, they had complete faith in the rangers, happily playing as their town went up in flames outside.

Time passed without much notice to Ashley. It might have been an hour, it might have been two, it might even have been twenty minutes, but as she was lacing up a girl’s shoes, she noticed a flash of yellow at one of the windows. When she turned to get a better look, whatever it was had disappeared. Meanwhile the girl ran off to play again. Ashley got up with a sigh and went off to the bathroom. On the way there she passed both Carlos and Amira and nodded at them.

The door fell closed behind her, shutting out much of the noise in the Youth Centre. The peacefulness and strange emptiness of the restrooms barely registered when yellow sparkles obscured her vision. When the sparkles cleared, she couldn’t see a thing, darkness surrounded her. For a moment the room light up in green sparkles and Ashley could briefly make out Carlos. He stumbled and cursed and Ashley bit back a laugh.

The room light up again moments later, this time in red and pink sparkles. Ashley caught a brief look at a black teenage boy and an Asian teenage girl before the room went dark again.

‘Ashley?’ Carlos’s voice asked somewhere to her left.

She chose to ignore him, trying to make out something, anything, in the dark. Power bubbled up inside her, charging and ready to burst out at any moment, damn all the consequences. But then the ground started shaking and a different power coursed through her veins. Something appeared, tugged under her right arm.

The platform they were on broke through a surface and for a moment light blinded them before their eyes adjusted. When Ashley spotted the five familiar teens below, she bit back a groan. A glance down at herself told her all she needed to know. This couldn’t be happening.

The four former rangers proudly informed their replacements why they’d chosen them to hold a morpher. Ashley was surprised by how Tanya described her. It shocked her to the core. Was that really how people saw her? Was there even a grain of truth in that?

From the corner of her eye she observed Zordon. Why would he come all the way to Earth just for this ceremony? And was it her imagination, or was he scrutinizing her? Could he see right through her or did he see just the mask she put on?

A tap on her shoulder startled her out of her thoughts. She turned around and saw the new pink ranger smiling at her.

‘Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you. It’s a lot to take in, isn’t it?’ the girl said. ‘I’m Cassie.’

Ashley caught her hand and shook it. ‘Ashley.’

‘I say we girls have to stick together seeing as we’re outnumbered by those guys.’

Ashley eyed where Carlos and Justin were talking to the new red ranger.

‘That’s TJ, we met on the bus here. Well, I was actually on my way to family in Stone Canyon, but I guess I’ll have to call them I’m sticking to Angel Grover.’

Ashley smiled and nodded. ‘The tall guy in green is Carlos and the short stuff in blue is Justin. Carlos is a friend of mine since I moved here, Justin I’ve seen around town, but I don’t really know him beyond that.’

‘So, what got you picked by Tanya besides being the all-round nice girl?’

‘I dislike those Piranatrons getting in my way, so I’ve been beating the stuffing out of them whenever they tried. I guess it caught Tanya’s attention I can take care of myself.’

Cassie laughed. ‘A tough girl, I like. I just tagged along as TJ insisted on playing the hero. But it was good enough for Katherine. I’ll do have to find a new place to stay here now, though. Which kinda sucks.’

‘Ask Carlos,’ Ashley suggested. ‘He has a big, but very welcoming, family. I’m pretty sure they’d be willing to put you up.’ Cassie raised an eyebrow at her. ‘Unless you want to find your own apartment and pay the bills that come with it?’

‘Asking Carlos sounds like a lovely idea.’

Ashley laughed and watched Cassie go over to the guys. She observed the introductions go around and by Carlos’s reaction, he was more than willing to nag his parents until Cassie had a place to stay. Though, he probably wouldn’t turn down a pretty girl asking if she could come live with him and his family anyway. Ashley observed her team a little apprehensively. Friends she could do, but teammates? That would definitely take some getting used to.

From the corner of her eye she noticed the old rangers observing them and took the three steps that separated her from the others. Carlos wrapped an arm around her shoulders and Ashley felt her body relax. Maybe this situation wasn’t so bad after all.


	23. Chapter 22

 

** Chapter 22 **

_Astrae relaxed into the seat on the bridge of her new ride. Her Eltaran fighter was docked in the hanger bay of the much larger Karovan ship. KO-35 had fallen a week ago and the invasion forces had left, so Astrae had happily moved in on the empty colony. The cloak on her fighter had kept her hidden from the small rescue team that had returned to the surface until they were out of range again. The state of the colony had told her they must have only been looking for survivors. They weren’t likely to have found many._

_Astrae had focussed on valuables; medicine, jewels and technology. The price find had been the flight worthy ship that had been finished enough to take off. She hadn’t hesitated a moment to claim it as her own. The two cargo bays were now filled with valuables and spare parts. The medical bay was stocked with as much medicine as she could find and the roof of the ship had opened up a hanger bay so she didn’t have to leave her smaller and sometimes more practical fighter behind._

_Satisfied with her haul, she had boarded the new ship and plotted a course in the opposite direction of the Karovan rescue team. Dark Spector would probably love it if she could sniff out their hiding place, but Astrae didn’t feel like chasing them. Let them hide first and actually make finding them a challenge._

_She settled more comfortably in the pilot’s chair with a datapad that had the schematics of the ship plus some others and information on Karovan technology downloaded on it, including some large craft called The Megaship she could only dream about owning. The Karovans weren’t likely to finish th_ _e ship for her. Absorbed by the information, she startled by the sudden, insistent beeping that filled the bridge._

_With a sigh she tossed the datapad on the console in front of her. Across the bridge a light flashed on another console. Curiosity piqued, Astrae got up to investigate. To her surprise the warning indicated that systems were picking up a faint distress signal on a strictly Karovan frequency that was slowly fading. After a moment’s hesitation, she keyed in the command for the ship to change course to investigate the source._

_Even with the superior speed of the Karovan build craft, it still took several hours to reach her destination. The planet she reached was little less than a bare, inhospitable rock. The ship that emitted the signal was easy to find and bring up on her screen. It had a large tear in the hull, exposing damaged wiring and some slow dripping piping. Though she knew little still about the Karovan build ships, Astrae did know no ship could take off in that state, no matter who build them._

_A light-haired man was walking around the ship, trying to repair the damage, but obviously lacking tools and parts to succeed._

_Decision easily made, Astrae made her ship descend. It was unlikely the man or any others with him carried any valuables, but Cardon’s words came back to her; “there are things more valuable in the universe”._

_By the time her ship touched down the man she’d seen had been joined by another, dark-haired, man and two women. They looked at the ship hopefully. When Astrae stepped out their faces fell. Astrae waited patiently for them to approach her. After a while, one of the women stepped forward._

_‘Hiberia,’ the dark-haired man spoke up, grabbing the woman’s wrist. ‘You know who that is, right?’_

_‘Astrae,’ she nodded. ‘Dark Spector’s most praised bounty hunter. But right now, she might also be our only hope.’_

_‘Nonsense, are you honestly willing to trust her?’ the man pressed._

_‘No, but we seem to have little choice. We can’t survive here, our supplies are running low and the signal is dying,’ the woman pointed out, sending a look at the other two as well._

_‘She’s right, you know. The last ships just left a few days ago and they went the other way,’ Astrae put in with a smirk._

_‘No one asked you anything,’ the dark-haired man snapped at her. ‘You probably already contacted Dark Spector.’_

_‘And now why would I do that?’_

_‘You work for him,’ the man accused. ‘You took away our home.’_

_‘No, I have dealings with him. I work for myself and only for myself. That’s what a bounty hunter does, they work for the highest bidder. And there was someone paying me better for doing something else while Dark Spector’s forces razed your planet. I had nothing to do with that. However, Dark Spector **has** put a bounty out for the evacuated colonists, but a bounty for four would be insignificant. So how about we barter? Are you willing to pay more for your freedom than he does for your capture?’_

_‘We have nothing to pay you with,’ the light-haired man Astrae had seen walking around their ship now stepped forward. Up close his hair had a silver sheen to it._

_‘Oh, I’m sure we could come to some kind of arrangement. You see, I have a ship that needs finishing, but is stocked with parts and food and you have a ship that needs fixing and probably some knowledge to build ships,’ Astrae told them._

_‘Argon, no,’ the second man growled and turned a furious gaze on Astrae. ‘That’s not your ship. You stole it and plundered our home with all your buddies.’_

_‘Didn’t I just say I wasn’t in any way part of that invasion force?’ Astrae rolled her eyes. ‘And I didn’t steal or plunder anything. I scavenged an abandoned planet that Dark Spector razed. No one was around the protest, so it’s mine now.’_

_‘Please, Argon,’ the woman who had spoken before pleaded._

_‘Hiberia, we don’t make deals with the likes of her,’ the dark-haired man protested._

_‘This isn’t for us, it’s for Eyn. We might make it out of here, but she won’t if we pass up this offer.’_

_It was quiet for a moment and they all studied the light-haired man. Finally he slowly nodded his head. ‘Hiberia is right, if we don’t get moving soon, Eyn won’t make it. If Astrae is telling the truth, then we don’t have much hope of a Karovan ship passing by any time soon. A broader distress frequency is too risky at this point if there really is a bounty and our energy reserves are slowly draining. I’m not sure how much longer we can keep the signal going. I’m not happy about it, but if this deal saves our lives, saves Eyn’s life, I’ll make it.’_

_The dark-haired man glared at him in betrayal, before storming off, back into their ship. The second woman stepped forward and placed her hand on the arm of the man. ‘Do what you have to, but don’t trust her,’ she told him and then followed the other man into the ship._

_‘May I have a look at the supplies you’ve gathered and see if you’ve got what I need? Oh and I’m Argon, this is Hiberia, the man who stormed off is Dyamin and the woman who just left is my wife Ligia,’ Argon cautiously approached her further._

_‘And I’m Astrae, but you already knew that,’ Astrae smirked. ‘Follow me.’_

_Days passed slowly with Astrae having little to no interaction with the Karovans other than Argon. Once the more vital parts of their ship had been fixed, Argon insisted on splitting their time on both ships, to show he was committed to his part of their agreement. He had relaxed around the young bounty hunter when he realised that not only was she not going to double cross them, but he also found an eager student in her. Hiberia, and sometimes Ligia, would bring them lunch, but Dyamin had not shown his face after the initial meeting._

_Argon and Astrae were working on some repairs on the hull of the Karovans’ ship when he suddenly heard Atrae release a string of colourful curses, some of which he’d never heard before. He shot a glance at her and quickly did a double take when he spotted blood on her legs._

_‘Astrae, are you hurt?’ he inquired, concern unwillingly creeping into his voice._

_‘I don’t think so,’ she answered. ‘It stops after a few days as suddenly as it starts. It’s happened before.’_

_Argon looked at her, eyes wide and mouth nearly dropping open. ‘Wait, didn’t your mother ever teach you?’_

_‘I don’t have a mother.’_

_‘Everyone has a mother at some point in their lives. What about someone else in your family?’_

_‘I don’t have a family.’_

_‘Then who raised you?’ Argon inquired, his heart clenching at the answers of Astrae._

_‘All I can remember is Darkonda,’ Astrae shrugged._

_Argon closed his eyes for a moment, a sudden understanding bubbling up in him. ‘Come on, we’re taking a break. Follow me,’ he motioned. Astrae was about to protest, but Argon already walked off and into the ship. They soon stepped into a small medical bay. The other three adults were there, doing what little they could to make a very pale girl, about six-years-old, as comfortable as they could. Her pale blonde hair was plastered to her sweat covered face as she tossed and turned in delirium._

_Dyamin was the first to notice them. ‘What is she doing here?’ he demanded._

_‘I just learned she was raised by Darkonda and lacked being taught about the mysteries of a female body. Whatever your feelings about her, she at least deserves to learn about her own body,’ Argon told him pointedly._

_Ligia jumped up and placed a hand on Astrae’s shoulder. ‘Come on, I’ll take care of you and teach you any secret of womanhood that men don’t know.’ She gave Argon a penetrating look as she lead Astrae out of the room again._

_‘What’s wrong with her?’ Astrae asked out in the hallway._

_‘Eyn? It’s a common childhood illness on KO-35 and with the right medicine it’s easily treated. But it didn’t show until we left the planet and without the medicine, the decease progresses quickly and is always deadly. If we don’t get out of here soon and find a dose, Eyn won’t survive,’ Ligia explained honestly. ‘Dyamin and Hiberia have lost a child before. It would kill them if it happened again.’_

_‘What medicine does she need?’_

_‘It’s called Navar.’_

_‘That’s not something commonly found away from KO-35,’ Astrae commented thoughtfully._

_‘We still have hope to find colonists who took some with them during the evacuation. But time is running out,’ Ligia sighed and gestured to a door. ‘In here, let’s see how much your basic education in being female is lacking.’_

_After that, three more days went by before Argon was confident enough their ship could take off. Astrae agreed that he’d taught her enough to consider her payment met and she could finish work on her own ship alone. Argon, Ligia and Hiberia had come out to the planet’s surface to say their goodbyes. Dyamin still refused to acknowledge Astrae and fumed over the help they paid her for._

_Astrae walked out of her own ship and observed the Karovans. Looking at them, she was overcome with an unfamiliar feeling of longing. Shaking it off, she tossed the vail held in her hand at Hiberia. The woman barely caught it and her eyes widened when she realised what it was. ‘What do you want for it?’ Hiberia asked in a hushed voice._

_‘Nothing for now,’ Astrae shrugged. ‘You have nothing to spare that I need at the moment. But don’t mistake this for charity. I will come back to collect on this deb one day.’ Without another word, the young bounty hunter turned on her heels and walked back to her ship._

_Hiberia watched the girl’s retreating back as her figners closed tightly around the precious vial of Navar. A seed of doubt was firmly planted and taking root. The Astrae they’d come to “know” was nothing like the ruthless bounty hunter in the stories circulating about her. Distantly she wondered what horrors a child would’ve had to live through in the care of Darkonda and still come out alive on the other side. She doubted she herself could’ve been so strong and live._


	24. Chapter 23

** Chapter 23 **

Ashley tried not to cough as the dust entered her lungs. Divatox was standing almost on top of where she was buried under the rubble. Anger and power build up inside her as Divatox triumphantly called out for them to show themselves. The Power was about ready to release when a ball of fire dropped from the heavens and hovered in front of Divatox.

‘What are you?’ Divatox purred, sending shivers of disgust down Ashley’s back.

The ball turned into a face and it addressed the pirate queen. ‘I’m a messenger from the Cimmarian planet. Zordon has been captured. You, the self-named queen of evil, will leave at once for the Cimmarian planet.’

Divatox laughed disdainfully. ‘Give my congrats to whoever captured Zordon, but I just captured the Earth and I’m not going anywhere.’

‘Dark Spector will not be pleased.’

Divatox let out a shriek and Ashley smirked at the sound.

‘Yes, I was talking about the grand Monarch of Evil,’ the face confirmed, sounding utterly self-satisfied.

Ashley watched Divatox whisper something to Elgar before turning back to the messenger. ‘A vacation to the Cimmarian planet is just what I need right now. Thank you for the suggestion. I’ll take you up on the offer.’ As the face left again, Divatox turned around. ‘If any of you rangers are out there listening, you’re not to worry. I’ll be back. Viva la Diva!’

Once Divatox and her croons left, one by one the rangers appeared from among the rubble. With a sigh Ashley pushed herself up. TJ was already planning what to do next, when suddenly their morphs failed. The rangers looked at each other silently. Justin tried to morph again, but nothing happened.

‘Great, now we’ve lost not only the Power Chamber, but our powers too. The veterans are going to be so proud of us,’ Carlos complained. ‘How are we to defend the Earth now?’

‘We go to Eltar and find new powers,’ TJ stated resolutely. ‘And then we go to the Cimmarian planet and rescue Zordon.’

‘Wasn’t Zordon on Eltar?’ Ashley suggested gently. All she had to do now was wait patiently for them to give up and she could cut her losses.

‘Then we go straight to the Cimmarian planet, rescue Zordon and ask him for new powers,’ TJ shrugged.

‘And how do you suggest we get there? I personally can’t fly, nor breathe in the vacuum of space,’ Ashley pointed out.

‘NASADA,’ Justin offered. ‘We could see if they’ll lend us their shuttle.’

The other rangers quickly agreed to the plan. Ashley followed them bemused. The likelihood of NASADA agreeing to the plan was very small. At the base Justin offered to convey their request since he was the smallest and would have an easier time sneaking in. The others waited impatiently outside for the answer. Much to Ashley’s surprise the commander agreed to the request most readily and soon they boarded the shuttle, blasting off into space and leaving Justin behind by his request.

Time seemed to pass slowly. Space was only interesting for so long and there was little to do on the shuttle for entertainment. They started getting on each other’s nerves too in the confined space which offered little to no privacy. To make matters even worse, Alpha’s speech board seemed to be friend so he could only sprout nonsense.

Just as Ashley felt she was about to snap, a large spaceship loomed into view on a collision course with the smaller shuttle. 

* * *

Zhane watched Karone move through the crowd from the corner of his eyes. Next to him Rita and Zedd were comparing stories of how they almost defeated the Power Rangers of Earth with Mondo and Machina. He listened a little bemused and somewhat impressed by the team Zordon had put together. The arrival of Orion cut their conversation short. Zhane moved to shadow him, catching Karone’s eye as he did so. She gave him an almost unnoticed nod  and continued on her own way.

Orion positioned himself in a quiet corner and Zhane found a place to keep watch without drawing too much attention to himself.

More people started to arrive, but one managed to stir things up, making quiet a racket. Zhane watched Karone move to shadow the woman, though it was hard not to hear her bragging, even in Orion’s quiet corner. Zhane noticed a distasteful look appear on Orion’s face and he smirked under his hood. How strange it was to realise he actually had something in common with his greatest nemesis.

‘Make way, I killed the rangers of Earth you know,’ the loud space pirate yelled, pushing people aside.

If Zhane hadn’t been looking straight at him, he would not have believed that a kind of pained expression had flashed over Orion’s face. Still he wondered if it was a trick of light. Before he could put too much thought into it, Dark Spector arrived and called his guests to the banquet table. Orion took the seat of honour, while Zhane and Karone took seats further down. Zhane noticed Orion’s face was a blank mask. While others would look smug in his position, he looked more bored than anything.

Dark Spector was bragging about his capture of Zordon and Zedd proposed a toast. Zhane immediately knew their cover was going to be blown and from the corner of his eyes he saw Karone tense to fight. Moments later they were fighting back to back, offering the other the moment’s cover they needed to morph. Zhane saw Orion smirk at him, but he didn’t join the fight.

They were never going to win this and that was never their goal. So the second the battle turned too much against them, the two rangers called their gliders and fled the party. On their flight back to the ship they evaded several velocifighters until they got in ranger of the megalasers and Deca shot them down.

Once on board they immediately noticed something was off. Cautiously they moved through the ship. On the bridge they found four human teens about their age and an Alpha line robot, dressed in torn clothes and looking worse for wear. The four looked startled to see them appear and quickly raised their hands when two Astro blasters were trained on them.

‘Who are you and what are you doing on our ship?’ Karone demanded.

The guy in red looked at his companions before taking a tentative step forward. ‘We’re Power Rangers,’ he explained. ‘From Earth… Or… at least we were until Divatox blew up our base. Your ship pulled our shuttle in as we were making our way to the Cimmarian planet to save Zordon and see if he has new powers for us.’

Zhane dropped his blaster slightly and next to him Karone did the same.

‘They’ve left the Cimmarian planet by now. We were just there, thought this Divatox seems to be sure she killed the rangers from Earth,’ he replied.

‘Not by a long shot,’ the girl in pink grinned.

‘So now what?’ the boy in green asked just before the ship rocked.

‘Deca?!’ Karone demanded, springing into action and sliding into the seat at the weapon’s station.

‘A ship is firing at us,’ Deca reported as Zhane took control of the helm. ‘Sensors indicate Orion is on board.’ Another hit rocked the ship. ‘Engines have sustained damage. Continuing to run them is not advisable in this state. The ship should land to repair the engines.’

Zhane let out a string of curses, but directed the ship to the nearest planet. Karone returned fire as best as they could, while the four former rangers and Alpha stood around helplessly, trying not to fall when they ship rocked with another impact. The landing was none too gentle and everyone was thrown around the bridge.

‘Sorry,’ Zhane groaned. ‘Couldn’t be helped.’

‘Orion and Ecliptor have teleported down to the surface with an army of quantrons. They are approaching the ship,’ Deca informed dully.

Zhane and Karone both cursed and scrambled to their feet. The megalift doors were sliding shut by the time the four Terrans caught on and TJ was only just in time to stop the doors from fully closing.

‘We’re coming with you,’ he told the two morphed rangers, his tone allowing no room for protest.


	25. Chapter 24

** Chapter 24 **

Astrae smiled contently as Orion shuddered his release and collapsed on top of her. Ecliptor had been less than pleased to see her on the fortress after months of being off the grid. Orion had welcomed her much more warmly. They’d spend several hours over the past few days satisfying need that had only been half met during their time apart.

Orion rolled off her and lay staring at the ceiling. ‘Bored with me already or are you getting tired?’ Astrae teased, rolling onto her side and propping herself up on one arm to look at him.

‘Not in the least, but we really should discuss the issue of the yellow ranger,’ Orion replied. ‘We’re arriving at Earth soon and Ecliptor keeps complaining we didn’t head the rangers off and shot them from the sky.’

‘Because shooting down a crippled enemy presents such a satisfying challenge,’ Astrae rolled her eyes.

‘You’re avoiding the yellow ranger issue,’ Orion grinned.

‘Because I don’t know what to do about her,’ Astrae sighed.

‘Yes, you do. You just don’t like admitting it.’

‘Are you okay with it?’

‘It keeps life interesting,’ Orion shrugged.

‘Well, we’re not arriving at Earth quite yet,’ Astrae smirked and moved to straddle his hips. Orion smirked back, stirring at the sight and sensation of having her on top of him. He groaned as she slid down over him, thoughts of the yellow ranger forgotten for now.

* * *

Zhane lay on his back staring at the bunk above him. Karone lay curled up to his side. Her soft, slow breaths told him she’d found sleep a while ago, but his thoughts were keeping him awake. He hoped their three new teammates had a better time finding sleep too. He couldn’t blame them if they didn’t. They were obviously worried about their teammate.

When Orion had captured Ashley and retreated, the only logical and honourable thing to do was offer them the unused Astro morphers. TJ, Cassie and Carlos deserved a fighting chance to free their friend. Carlos had been slightly unhappy to lose his green, but was understanding and readily accepted the black morpher. TJ, on the other hand, seemed only too happy to switch from red to blue and let someone else make the decisions for a while. They never asked about the red morpher and he and Karone were perfectly content to not mention it either. It was too hard to explain why they were honouring a fallen ranger who never got to wear the morpher in the first place.

Their first battle was going to be interesting though. When it was just him and Karone, neither assumed to lead, they just worked together flawlessly. That strategy was not going to work so well with three more rangers. Training sessions on the simudeck to get accustomed to each other were a complete mess. They’d get there… eventually… It was just going to take some time.

But time was the one thing they were running out on. The Megaship was too damaged and supplies were running too low to fix it properly. It had been fixed enough to fly, but anything over hyperrush two would overtax the  engines. So they made the only choice available to them; make the slow crawl through space to Earth and get supplies they needed to fix the ship properly.

Okay, so it wasn’t exactly a slow crawl. But after getting used to flying at hyperrush seven and getting there in a matter of hours, the three days it took at huperrush two felt like an eternity. And the chances of Orion figuring out their destination and rushing ahead of them were colossal. Especially if he was interrogating Ashley and she talked. And if she was a smart girl, which she was from what little he knew of her, she was talking just enough to stay alive, relatively unharmed and still interesting enough to keep around. Zhane just hoped they’d be able to save her in time or that she’d manage to escape on her own.

A soft kiss pressed to his lips startled him out of his thoughts. ‘You’re thinking too loud,’ Karone muttered.

‘I thought you were asleep,’ Zhane replied.

‘I was,’ Karone agreed. ‘You’re thinking too loud.’

‘I’m sorry. I just can’t help but worry about Ashley,’ Zhane admitted distractedly as Karone’s hand started trailing a design on his chest.

‘We’re all worried about her, but there’s nothing we can do right at this particular moment. So, how about I take your mind off of it for a while?’

‘And how were you planning on doing that?’

Zhane groaned when her hand slid slowly down his chest. She wrapped it firmly around him and gave a few strokes. With a growl he rolled over on top of her and settled between her legs. All thoughts of Ashley, Orion, their misfit team and the daunting task of rescuing Zordon were pushed to a dusty, dark corner of his mind until morning.

* * *

Red lights were flashing on the panel in front of her and an alarm was blaring, all indicating systems failure. The small fighter shook after taking another hit. She hoped it would hold together to get her safely to the planet’s surface. It was so close and yet felt so far away still.

The fighter took another hit and smoke started pouring out of the engine. But she’d broken through the atmosphere and the ground was fast approaching. She started pressing random buttons in hopes of slowing down her descent and maybe survive the impending crash.

Another hit took out what little flight controls she had. The uncontrollable little fighter rushed down to the planet’s surface. Her eyes grew wide when she spotted it was heading straight to a giant monster fighting a Megazord, in particular, the fighter was heading straight for the zord. They were too caught up in the fight to notice the approaching fighter. At the last moment before impact, the battle turned and the fighter crashed into the monster. Then her world turned black.

When she opened her eyes again, she didn’t recognize the surroundings. Not that she had a lot of time to study them. There was a shriek of joy and a black haired blur dressed in grey and pink threw herself at her.

‘Missed you too, Cassie,’ Ashley muttered, patting her friend on the back as the other girl seemed intent on hugging her into an early grave.

‘We were figuring out a rescue mission, but we had to get the ship fixed fist. Still have to, actually,’ Cassie babbled. ‘But obviously you got yourself out first.’

‘You know me, I don’t wanna be like Cinderella,’ Ashley joked, slowly pushing herself up when Cassie finally released her. She noticed her friends were keeping their distance, dressed in the same kind of uniform as Cassie and the two strangers in the room.

The blonde girl in purple shirt took a small step forward. ‘Hey, I’m Karone and that’s Zhane,’ she introduced herself and the blonde guy in black uniform. ‘We’ve briefly met before while we were morphed.’

‘Nice to meet you. I’m Ashley.’

Karone pulled her hand from behind her back holding out a box with a wristband. ‘We… we have a spare yellow morpher… if you’re interested.’

‘How could I say no?’ Ashley grinned. ‘But are you sure you want me on your team?’

‘Positive, anyone able to steal a velocifighter and break out of the Dark Fortress is an asset to any ranger team,’ Karone answered and handed over the morpher with a small smile. ‘Welcome to the team.’


	26. Chapter 25

** Chapter 25 **

Zhane smiled as he watched Ashley work quietly on the bridge. She had adjusted well after her ordeal on the Dark Fortress and was learning quickly. Karone had quietly taken Ashley to the side the day after she had woken up in the infirmary and explained what they had found on the medical scan they’d performed on her. Ashley had made it clear she didn’t want to talk about what was done to her on the Dark Fortress and that she wanted to try and forget it as soon as possible. So they had respected her wishes and Ashley had quickly relaxed around them. She’d also proven herself to be an asset to their team. Though there was something about her Zhane couldn’t quite put his finger on.

Still, he was happy to consider her his friend.

Ashley looked up and shot him a smile. ‘Hey, could you help me with something?’

Zhane returned her smile and nodded. He walked over and slid into the seat next to her. ‘What’s up?’

‘Brushing up on your Terran slang?’ Ashley laughed.

‘Trying to sound more universal?’ Zhane shot back, bumping his shoulder against hers.

Ashley winked at him and pointed to the screen in front of her. ‘I can’t quite figure out how this works.’

Zhane happily launched into an explanation, seeing Ashley’s eyes light up when it finally clicked. Ashley opened her mouth to ask another question, when Deca spoke up. ‘Incoming video message from NASADA.’

‘Call the other rangers to the bridge, play the message when they get here.’

‘Yes, Zhane.’

Five minutes later the other rangers had all made it to the bridge from various parts of the ship. Deca played the message of commander Norquist asking for their help in retrieving the data from a crashed satellite. Zhane only half listened, more focussed on the chief scientist standing slightly behind the commander. When the video finished playing, he turned to Karone. ‘Is it me, or was that…’

‘Tareq?’ Karone finished.

‘Who’s Tareq?’ Cassie asked.

‘A Karovan scientist who taught some classes at the Academy. He was injured and hospitalised during an attack just before the evacuation of KO-35,’ Karone answered

‘Records of the medical evacuation put him on a shuttle my sister was in charge of,’ Zhane supplied. ‘She was a doctor.’

‘So… your sister and other evacuees might be on Earth?’ Carlos asked incredulously.

‘It would explain why your shuttle docked so flawlessly with the Megaship,’ Zhane shrugged. ‘And with Zordon here at the time, it’s not a bad place for humans on the run to hide. I’ll try sending out a coded message later. We have to get to that satellite first and hopefully beating Orion in finding it.’

‘Deca, set a course to Kalderon,’ Karone ordered, walking over to Zhane and giving his shoulder a squeeze. Zhane raised his hand to cover hers and the other rangers retreated from the bridge to give them some privacy. Obviously the possibility of having found his sister was effecting him more than he let on.

* * *

Orion smirked at the captured rangers in front of him. Five were glaring at him, but the yellow ranger’s face was a blank mask. Orion’s smirk grew and he sauntered closer to them.

‘Well, well, what do we have here? Now why does this look familiar?’ he said, walking down the line of rangers. ‘You can’t seem to keep your team from getting captured, Silver. Should take better care of them and that pretty girlfriend of yours.’ Orion teased as he ran the back of his hand down the purple ranger’s cheek. ‘You never know what might happened to them.’ He shot a look at the pretty yellow ranger.

The explosion of outrage from the five other rangers amused him greatly. The purple ranger tried to bite his hand, but he quickly pulled it away.

‘Tut, tut,’ Orion grinned and wagged his finger at her. ‘I have all the power right now. You might want to be a bit nicer.’

He walked down the line to the yellow ranger. ‘If you touch her,’ the silver ranger threatened.

Orion reached out and poked her shoulder. ‘Now what?’

The silver ranger glared at him, but knew he couldn’t make good on any threats made right now. Orion knew it too and turned his attention back to the girl in front of him. She kept her eyes straight ahead and her face blank.

‘Long time no seen, yellow ranger,’ he purred as he stepped closer. ‘I still think about our time together on the Dark Fortress. Be honest, do you miss me as much as I miss you?’ She shuddered when Orion put his hands on her hips, standing so close now they were almost touching, but not quite. He could feel the glares burning, but the other rangers kept their mouths shut.

Orion let his hands slowly travel upwards, over her sides until his thumbs touched the underside of her breasts. The yellow ranger was shaking now. He looked her in the eye and smirked, then turned away with the four disks that had been inside her jacket. ‘Thank you. Dark Specter will be happy to see these destroyed,’ he said as he studied them. ‘Tie them down. Clawhammer sounds hungry.’

‘All of them?’ Ecliptor asked sceptically.

‘Of course all of them,’ Orion answered in a bored tone. ‘They’re power rangers. We both know they’ll find a way to escape the bonds, take on Clawhammer and win the day. I have plans for this planet and Clawhammer is in the way. This is the most fun way to get rid of him and toy with the rangers as well.’

‘Dark Specter wants the rangers destroyed, not toyed with,’ Ecliptor protested.

‘Of course, and they will be,’ Orion waved him off. ‘Once I’m bored with them, I’ll destroy them. But until then, I’m having my fun.’

They watched as the quantrons tied the rangers down in chains and nailed them to the ground. When they were secured, Orion walked up to them again and bowed over their heads. ‘The better you entertain me, the longer I’ll be willing to let you live. So make a show of it. Until we meet again, rangers. Oh and yellow, don’t die just yet. I’ll be thinking of you when I meet with Astrae tonight.’

The girl spat at him, but he quickly jumped out of reach. With a final wave at the five figures on the ground, he teleported away, ignoring the disks he felt slipping from his pocket. Let the rangers think they’d scored a small victory over him. The disks were more use to him in the hands of the rangers than destroyed for Dark Specter, but no one needed to know that. This way he could claim total innocence for forgetting Karovans were telepathic.

For a moment it made him wonder about his own abilities, but he quickly shrugged it off.


	27. Chapter 26

** Chapter 26 **

Ashley sat alone at a table in the Surf Spot. All her friends were busy, but it suited her just fine. Zhane and Karone had gone to meet with his sister. Cassie was having a jam session with another friend. TJ had gotten himself a date and Carlos was at the park with Justin for a friendly soccer game. So Ashley had waved them off and gathered a few books to do homework at the Surf Spot.

She glanced up and spotted a guy lingering at the entrance. He had brown hair and his hazel eyes caught hers. Ashley gave him a smile and he returned it. He was about to move her way when Carlos suddenly brushed past him into the room, followed by a short, elderly woman. A moment later the guy had disappeared from her view.

With a sigh she turned her attention to Carlos and the woman. Luckily she was sitting close enough to hear what they were saying.

‘Grandma,’ Carlos groaned.

‘I want to see great-grandbabies before I die, Carlos Rodrigo Valerte,’ the lady insisted. ‘And since you’re my eldest grandchild, my hopes are set on you.’

‘Grandma, I’m eighteen and still in school,’ Carlos protested.

‘Did I say you were to have a child by tomorrow? By the time you’ve picked a girl, got to know her and married her, you’ll have graduated. You can start working on that baby once you’re married,’ his grandmother reasoned.

Ashley bit back a laugh, but regretted it when Carlos spotted her. She saw the idea forming in his eyes and shook her head. Too late, Carlos already opened his mouth with a triumphant smile. ‘But grandma, I already have a girlfriend.’

‘Oh?’ his grandmother raised an eyebrow.

Carlos walked over and pulled Ashley to her feet. ‘Please play along, she’s only here for a week.’

‘Fine,’ Ashley hissed back.

‘Grandma, I’d like you to meet Ashley,’ Carlos told his grandmother. ‘Ashley, meet my grandmother, Maria Valerte.’

‘It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mrs Valerte,’ Ashley cracked a smile.

‘Please, you’re dating my grandson, call me grandma,’ the older woman insisted.

Ashley suppressed the urge to roll her eyes and heard a snort. When she glanced in the direction of the sound, she saw Adele quickly walking away. Her attention turned back to Carlos spinning his web of lies. There was sure to come a time where she’d have to repeat them. Over Mrs Valerte’s shoulder Ashley spotted the hazel-eyed guy again. He was smirking at her.

That evening the other rangers were laughing at the situation Carlos and Ashley found themselves in.

‘You don’t know my grandma like I do!’ Carlos protested. ‘She’s serious about this and there’s no stopping her. I’d like to see you standing up to her. Grandma is a force of nature. She considers herself cabeza de la familia and everyone listens to her.’

‘So now Ashley has to be your pretend girlfriend to keep her happy while she’s visiting?’ Zhane grinned.

‘Yes and she insisted we go on a date tomorrow and invited herself along,’ Ashley laughed. ‘That should prove interesting.’

‘I’m sorry, but I’m glad it’s you and not me,’ Cassie shook her head.

‘How was meeting your sister?’ Carlos pointedly asked Zhane, trying to change the subject.

Zhane laughed but allowed it. ‘Yeah, it was good seeing her again. She came alone today because we had two years to catch up on. But other refugees are wanting to meet with us. She’d like to meet you guys too, if you want, but she’ll understand if you want to keep your identities a secret.’

‘We’ll think about it,’ TJ replied. ‘There’s some pros and cons to your sister and the other Karovans on Earth knowing. We’ll have to discuss it.’

‘Yeah, a big pro is your sister being a doctor. She’d be able to help out if we happen to get more serious injuries. Not to say that we’re going to need her, hopefully we won’t, but it’s a good back up to have,’ Cassie added.

‘I’m going to be a bit busy this week,’ Ashley grinned and the others, minus Carlos, sniggered. ‘And I’ll join with whatever you decide, but I’m down with meeting Zhane’s sister and any other colonists whenever.’

Zhane shot her a bright smile and nodded. Karone smiled too, happy their friends were so accepting of their ways and willing to consider maybe adopting some of them. Plus it was nice to find some more of their people safe and sound. Amira had been beyond happy to see her baby brother had survived the battle and to have word Caleb was alive as well. Unfortunately she had even less information on what happened to the rest of their families than what they had already gathered.

‘Well, I’m off to my room and do a little homework before bed,’ Carlos interrupted Karone’s thoughts as he got up from the table and returned his plate to the synthatron.

‘Hey, aren’t you forgetting something?’ TJ called after him.

‘Not that I can think off,’ Carlos replied, turning around to give TJ a questioning look.

‘A goodnight kiss for your girlfriend,’ TJ replied innocently.

Carlos glared at him and flipped him off, to the amusement of their friends.

A week later Ashley and Carlos were walking side by side through the park. They’d just seen off his grandmother. They were now enjoying a few more moments together without having to hold hands all the time. Luckily grandma never questioned why they didn’t kiss.

Ashley raised her arm to call their gliders when Carlos suddenly caught her other hand. She shot him a questioning look, noticing he was nervously shifting from foot to foot.

Carlos took a deep breath and looked her in the eye. ‘I really appreciate what you did for me this past week, Ash.’

‘It was nothing,’ Ashley smiled at him. ‘I had fun.’

Carlos seemed to relax at those words. ‘Yeah, me too,’ he smiled back shyly. ‘And I… I was wondering… If you… If you would like to continue having fun with jus me… For real this time.’

Ashley was too stunned to reply and after a moment’s hesitation, Carlos slowly leaned in. The kiss was soft, sweet and undemanding. To his delight, Ashley responded.

* * *

Orion stormed onto the bridge of the Dark Fortress.

‘Where have you been?’ Ecliptor demanded.

‘That’s none of your concern,’ Orion snapped. He walked over to the communications panel, throwing the quantron stationed there out of his way, and started to push some buttons.

‘What are you doing?’ Ecliptor demanded again.

‘Sending a message to Darkonda asking if he wants to come and play.’

‘Astrae hates Darkonda’s guts.’

‘Exactly,’ Orion smirked.


	28. Chapter 27

** Chapter 27 **

Astrae was kneeling in front of the Grand Monarch of Evil on his ship. A  mixture of minions were wrestling Zordon’s energy tube on the far side of the room. For the energy drain to work properly, Dark Specter had to be close to Zordon two days every month. Those two day were up now and Zordon was transferred into the custody of yet another of Dark Specter’s followers.

However, the activity was ignored by the evil being and the bounty hunter.

‘I have a job for you, Astrae,’ Dark Specter’s voice boomed through the ship.

‘That’s what I figured when I received your summons,’ Astrae replied.

‘You have done well these past months. I don’t know how you did it, but the intelligence you’ve gathered has been invaluable.’

Astrae smirked but stayed quiet, not about to reveal her secrets.

‘But you are to quit your spying. I have named Orion my heir some time ago, but for the future to be truly secure, he needs one too. Him appointing one has little use. So I have decided, due to the nature of your dealings with each other, that you will carry his heir for him.’

‘You want me to have Orion’s baby?’ Astrae asked shocked. ‘I have my own business to deal with, a baby would be in the way.’

‘You will be sufficiently compensated for your missed bounties. Once the child is born, they will not be any of your concern. Someone will teach the child until they are able to take their place of command.’

Astrae’s hands balled into fists of fury, but otherwise she held in her anger. ‘Who would teach them?’

‘Darkonda,’  Dark Specter replied. ‘Now, you are to go to the Dark Fortress and make yourself available for Orion. You will stay there until a child is delivered.’

‘I have one more thing to do on Earth and finish up my affairs there.’

‘Finish them quick,’ Dark Specter told her and waved her away.

On her way out Astrae heard a familiar voice screeching orders on where to take Zordon. She filed the information away for later use.

* * *

‘Sorry I’m late.’

Zhane watched Ashley run over to where they had spread out a picnic in a secluded spot of the park.

‘My family wasn’t letting me leave.’

‘No apologies necessary,’ one of the Karovans smiled at her. ‘I am Tareq and you must be Ashley. Zhane tells me you are quite the aspiring mechanic on the ship.’

‘Zhane loves to exaggerate,’ Ashley replied, shaking his hand.

‘Ashley, I want you to meet my sister, Amira,’ Zhane joined them, pulling his sister with him.

‘Actually, we’ve met,’ Ashley smiled at them. ‘Just hours before I became a ranger.’

‘You were helping with the girl with the burned arms,’ Amira smiled back.

‘Well, in that case, let’s eat and mingle,’ Zhane grinned happily. He slipped off to Karone and wrapped his arms around her waist. ‘Hey gorgeous,’ he whispered in her ear and dropped a kiss to her neck.

‘Behave,’ Karone laughed and twisted out of his arms. She caught his hands and looked at him. ‘You’re happy,’ she commented.

‘Why shouldn’t I bed? We’ve found colonists, including my sister. Our fight is going well and Orion hasn’t attacked for a while. We’re going to locate Zordon one of these days and save him. We made some great friends and let’s not forget I have the best, most awesome and beautiful girlfriend in the whole universe,’ Zhane grinned, stealing a kiss.

‘Suck up,’ Karone laughed again. ‘But I guess you’re right.’

They joined the others on one of the picnic blankets. Everyone last track of time as they were enjoying themselves. Zhane looked up from playing with Karone’s hair and looked around for his friends. Soft cords alerted him to Cassie having brought out her guitar and was gently strumming it for a small audience. TJ and Carlos had produced a basketball and were playing a free for all kind of game with a few colonists.

Zhane had to search a bit before he finally spotted Ashley. She stood a little away from everyone in the shadow of a tree. At first glance she looked to be observing the picnic, but on closer inspection her thoughts seemed a million miles away and there was a shadow on her face. As he watched Tareq approached her. A smile appeared, but Zhane noticed even from a distance that it wasn’t quite reaching her eyes.

Just then the world exploded around them. Everyone jumped to their feet and rushed to crowd together. The six rangers gathered at the front of the group, dropping into a fighting stance.

‘What do we have here?’ Orion commented, stepping into view from the line of trees. ‘Karovans disguised as Terrans, ingenious. Dark Specter would’ve never found you.’

‘No one invited you, Orion,’ Carlos snapped, inching slightly closer to Ashley.

‘Yeah, it’s been so quiet lately, we thought you had finally given up. Let’s go back to that,’ Cassie agreed.

Orion shrugged. ‘You’ve been providing enough entertainment without me having to create any. But now I’ve grown bored and wanted to introduce you to my new ally.’

A laugh sounded and it chilled Zhane’s blood. He had heard it but twice before and it never signalled anything good. To his surprise he noticed Ashley started shaking from the corner of his eye. A creature joined Orion from out of the line of trees.

‘Time to meet your end, rangers,’ the creature said and started advancing. His sword appeared in his hand and extended.

For a moment everyone stood frozen. Then Zhane spotted Ashley stepping around Carlos and started meeting the monster half way. Shouts of warning were ignored. But as Zhane caught a look on her face, he thought maybe she honestly didn’t hear them. Her face was a blank mask of determination and single minded focus.

‘So we have a volunteer to die first,’ the monster commented. ‘How noble.’

‘Yeah,’ Ashley hissed. Her tone of voice sends chills down Zhane’s spine. ‘You.’

In the blink of an eye, Ashley was holding his sword as the creature disintegrated. Sparks of gold were crackling around her balled fists. The sword disappeared. Everyone watched breathlessly as Ashley and Orion seemed to be staring each other down, the sparks growing more erratic until finally she raised her left arm and fired a bolt of gold at him. Orion dodged and disappeared.

Only then seemed Ashley to remember where she was and that she had an audience. Her shoulders squared and she slowly turned around. Cold golden irises met them where there had once been smiling brown eyes.

‘You!’ Karone shouted. ‘I can’t believe we ever trusted you!’

‘Karone?’ Cassie looked between her friends in fear.

‘That’s Astrae!’ Karone hissed.

Zhane saw the last three confused expressions turn hostile, mixed with a good degree of hurt and betrayal.

‘You helped capture Zordon, didn’t you?’ Carlos accused. ‘You supplied the necessary information to get to him! And to think you actually fooled me enough into dating you.’

Ashley, or Astrae, Zhane reminded himself, seemed to realise the game was up. Slowly, and without a word, she reached to her wrist and pulled the strap of her morpher loose, letting the device fall to the ground. Then she turned on her heels and stalked off.

Zhane wasn’t sure if he imagined it, but her shoulders seemed to slump a fraction of an inch. She looked like she was trying to keep from running. And had he seen tears glittering in her eyes or had that been the sparkle of her irises? If he hadn’t known any better, he would’ve been sure about the tears.

But… did he really know better?


	29. Chapter 28

**Chapter 28**

'What did you just say?' Karone rounded on Zhane, fury burning in her eyes.

'I said that maybe we're overreacting,' Zhane repeated calmly.

'Overreacting? Seriously? How can you say that when you know what she's done?!'

'Because that's the whole point, isn't it? I don't know what she's done and neither do you,' Zhane held up his hand when Karone was about to protest. 'We've heard stories of what she supposedly did. But those are stories as perceived by someone. There might be a whole other story behind it.'

'Wait, why are you so easy to forgive her?' Carlos demanded.

'Because for the simple fact that no morpher would work for someone who is truly evil. I heard from a reliable source that she was raised by Darkonda. What if she's one of the Stolen Children as well? I just think there's more to it than we know and it might be worth to find out what we're missing.'

'Don't!' Karone growled. 'Don't you  _dare_  suggest she's like Andros, just don't. How can you sink so low to even suggest that? And the Power must have made a mistake. Her not being evil just makes things worse. It means she's done everything she did out of her own free will.'

'I disagree,' Zhane shook his head.

'Well, you're the only one,' Cassie snapped. 'If I never see her again it will be too soon.' She stomped off the bridge in anger.

'I agree with Cassie,' Carlos agreed and followed her.

'Face it, Zhane,' TJ said more calmly than the others had. 'She betrayed us.'

'And with the way you're acting, I can't blame her for not telling,' Zhane muttered as he watched TJ and Karone leave the bridge too. 'Deca, do we have Ashley's address on record?'

'Yes,' Deca replied hesitantly. 'What are you planning?'

'I'm going to talk to my friend before I pass judgement,' Zhane told her. 'Could you teleport me down to a safe place nearby it?'

It took Deca a moment to answer. 'There is a disrupter active around the area. I'll have to teleport you at the edge of it and you'll have to continue on foot from there. However, I would advise not going as I will not be able to track you once you step inside the disrupter field.'

'I will take my chances,' Zhane shrugged. He waited patiently for Deca to see things his way. Finally she gave him the address before teleporting him down.

It took Zhane half an hour to locate the actual building. Only one of the bells wasn't labelled with a name and he figured that was a good place to start. A few moments later the speaker crackled to life.

'Hello?'

'Ash,' Zhane smiled at hearing her voice. 'May I come up?'

She didn't answer, but he heard the door buzz open. When the elevator dinged open, she was waiting for him at her front door, a guarded expression on her face.

'What do you want?' Ashley demanded coldly.

'To talk to my friend before I pass too hard a judgement without hearing her out.'

Ashley hesitated a moment, but stepped aside. Zhane shot her a smile and entered the apartment. It was sparsely, but comfortably furnished and all kinds of technology and valuables half hidden. A guy Zhane had never seen before was leaning against the kitchen island. Locks of brown hair fell into the hazel eyes that were observing him. Zhane nodded at him and supressed a smile when the guy uncrossed his arms. His eyes slid away from Zhane and the Silver Ranger turned around. Ashley had entered the room behind him.

'Talk,' she told him, crossing her arms.

'I don't think you're half as bad as your reputation makes you out to be,' Zhane stated bluntly. Ashley arched an eyebrow and he continued. 'I have heard some things about you that are not as widely known. My sources I won't reveal, but putting that next to the girl I've hung out with for the past few months. Well, I think you're trying to look tougher than you are. You're definitely not evil.'

'Says who?' Ashley demanded.

'Those morphers you've been using,' Zhane shrugged. 'They won't work for someone truly evil.'

'Earth has seen an evil Green Ranger, plus Tommy was temporarily turned evil by the Machine Empire,' Ashley pointed out.

'Yeah, I heard that stories; spells and trickery. The person holding the morpher wasn't evil at heart. Why do you think Rita had to give the Green Ranger coin to someone she controlled with a spell instead of giving it to Goldar, for example?'

Ashley stayed quiet and Zhane knew his point was made.

'Anyway, I've looked into your file. Seems to me you're mostly into thieving. And if you do stray to other things, it's stuff that undermines the Alliance of Evil and sabotages them. You keep them pissed off with each other enough that it prevents them from truly uniting. Either Dark Specter doesn't realise what you're doing or he's highly entertained by it, but I doubt you have many friends in the Alliance.'

'I don't have friends,' Ashley replied automatically and saw a look of hurt flash over Zhane's face. 'Well, I didn't use to have any,' she corrected. 'Things like Love and Friendship have no place in the Alliance. Caring about anyone but yourself is seen as a weakness. Rita and Zedd are an aberration created out of trickery. Carlos was the first person to show me what friendship was. What it's like to care about someone else.'

'What about Orion?' Zhane inquired curiously.

'An ally,' Ashley shrugged.

'More than just an ally if the rumours are correct,' Zhane winked playfully. 'But you do trust him?'

'With my life,' Ashley agreed without missing a beat. 'He is about the only person I could trust for a very long time. I can't remember not knowing him.'

'Then why would he suddenly ally himself with Darkonda? Everyone knows you hate his guts.'

'Because he didn't like Carlos asking me out and kissing me,' Ashley replied. 'I guess the good thing about the situation is that Darkonda is down another one of his lives.'

'Lives?'

'Darkonda had nine lives. How he got them, I don't know. But he was stupid enough to have me find out. I've taken three of his lives already. He should know better by now and just stay far away from me.'

'Darkonda is too hard headed,' the guy in the kitchen spoke up for the first time.

'Obviously,' Zhane agreed. 'I just hope Orion isn't stupid enough to hurt her again or he'll have to answer to me.'

The guy let out a laugh and Ashley cracked a smile.

'I'm serious,' Zhane pushed, catching the guy's eye. 'Hurt her, Orion, and I'll hurt you. I don't care how you two were raised. You don't hurt the people you love. Deny it all you want because it's not how life works for you, but you love her and she loves you. The fact that you are here right now proves that. So now I'll leave to allow you to continue grovelling and cleaning up the mess you've made.'

The other two looked shocked and Zhane just smiled, pressing a quick kiss to Ashley's cheek. 'You are my friend and you will be until you show me my trust in you is misplaced. If you need anything, even if it's just to talk, come to that one rock at the lake in the park.'

With that, he left.


	30. Chapter 29

**Chapter 29**

A week passed and reports of Astrae roaming het universe and causing mischief started rolling into the Megaship. The other rangers took it as proof of Ashley's betrayal, but Zhane kept shrugging it off. Officially he and Karone hadn't broken up, but They'd taken to sleeping in their own rooms again for the first time in a long while. Though it bothered Zhane that this issue was getting between him and Karone, he wasn't ready to give up on Ashley just yet.

Their continued safety was proof to him that she wasn't on the side of Evil. Ashley knew enough of the Megaship's systems for Dark Spector to take it out in one shot. Obviously the rangers' secrets had not been sold.

Currently the Megaship was travelling to investigate a strong signal very similar to Zordon. Zhane had tried to tell his friends the signal didn't sit well with him and felt like it might be a trap, but he had been silenced. Apparently they had yet to forgive him.

With a heavy feeling in his stomach Zhane followed his friends down to the planet. He walked tensely at the back, morpher open in his hand, ready to morph at a moment's notice. The others were more relaxed, only adding to Zhane's tension.

It only took a moment for things to go to hell. Carlos had taken the lead with a scanner and he was just checking the screen when a bug flew out at him. The others dove away, trying to prevent getting stung too. Zhane morphed instantly and cut the bug in two with his Silverizer when it few at him.

Chilling laugher filled the air.

Karone recovered first and went to check on Carlos. TJ and Cassie followed soon after, but Zhane crouched down and picked up the two half of the bug.

'I think this is bad,' Karone mentioned, studying the sting on Carlos's hand.

'I know it is,' Zhane added, holding up the bug. 'It will take us a day to get from here to KO-35 at hyperrush 9.'

'Shit,' Karone cursed. 'We need to leave right now,' she said, helping Carlos up.

'What's going on?' TJ demanded.

'What about the signal?' Cassie asked.

'Barillian bug, their stings are highly toxic. Zhane was right, this was probably a trap just to set that thing on us. A few years ago scientist on KO-35 developed an anti-venom. It's the best gamble to look for it,' Karone explained.

They teleported back to the Megaship and told Deca to set course for KO-35 while Zhane and Karone settled Carlos in the infirmary, working together flawlessly.

Time passed by slowly and the rangers barely slept a wink. At KO-35 they split up. Cassie would keep an eye on Carlos, while Zhane, Karone and TJ went down to the surface to look for the antidote. Zhane returned first, empty handed. Karone and TJ returned a bit later.

'Nothing,' TJ kicked at a console.

'It's likely they came in and raided the planet of anything that might be valuable. Darkonda must have known. The only place left I can think of to get our hands on it is the black market, but Darkonda is probably ready and waiting for us to show up on Onyx,' Karone sighed.

'Can't Deca make it?' TJ asked.

'Synthesizing it will take a week. We don't have that time,' Karone shook her head.

'There must be something we can do!' TJ exclaimed.

'Deca, set a course for Earth, hyperrush 9 and send out an encrypted message to Ashley that I need to speak to her,' Zhane suddenly cut in.

'What are you doing?' Karone demanded and TJ looked angry.

'I'm going shopping on the black market,' Zhane explained.

Karone froze and TJ's mouth dropped open. Just then Cassie came running in holding her neck.

'I was checking on Carlos and some kind of monster attacked me,' she said in panic.

Zhane walked over and gently removed Cassie's hand from her neck. 'Carlos,' he sighed. 'And he stung you. Now we're three rangers down and running out of time.'

'You're not meeting her alone,' Karone demanded.

'You can come if you promise to keep your mouth shut and let me do the talking,' Zhane answered.

'What's going on?' Cassie demanded.

'There was no antidote left on KO-35. There might be some on the black market, but we think Darkonda is likely to have set up another ambush on Onyx. So Zhane thought of bypassing Onyx and gaining access to it through Ashley,' TJ explained.

'That… is actually a brilliant idea,' Cassie blinked. 'But will she help us?'

* * *

The area of the park where Zhane told Ashley to meet was eerily deserted.

'I don't like this,' Karone muttered.

Zhane spotted Orion in his human disguise hidden in the shade of a tree. Then he noticed Ashley sitting on the rock they were to meet. Her eyes changed from brown to gold when she saw Karone was with him.

'What do you want?' Ashley asked once they got close enough.

'Long story short; we need the Barillian anti-venom, there wasn't any on KO-35 and we don't trust going to Onyx for it. We don't have a lot of time,' Zhane explained. 'Why is it so quiet here?'

'There might have been a Quantron attack just a few minutes ago,' Ashley shrugged. 'And why do you need it?'

'Carlos got strung in a trap set by Darkonda. He's already transformed and got Cassie too.'

'You'll need your gliders and I'll need to hitch a ride,' Ashley said, jumping up from the rock.

'Where are we going?' Zhane asked as he pulled out his morpher. 'And are we taking your bodyguard?'

Karone looked around surprised, but Orion had melted away. Ashley shook her head and pointed in the direction of the desert.

Ten minutes later they were over the desert, Ashley riding along with Zhane. Karone gasped as a Karovan looking ship suddenly decloaked. Without a word Ashley led them to the ship's infirmary and pulled open a cabinet. She pulled out five vails and secured them in a box before giving them to Karone.

'We only need two,' Karone told her.

'Just to be safe,' Ashley replied and closed the cabinet again.

'How much?' Zhane asked.

'I'm not in a habit of charging allies, or friends, for everything,' Ashley replied. 'But I'm sure this would cover any perceived debt I might owe you.'

Karone looked stunned.

'You should go,' Ashley reminded them.

Zhane said goodbye and pulled Karone along with him. Back on the Megaship they found Cassie now transformed as well and TJ having been stung by the both of them. Karone quickly administered the anti-venom and the three of them hunted down Carlos and Cassie.

Carlos could barely believe the story when they caught him up.

'Darkonda is going to pay for this,' Karone promised. 'And I'm not saying I trust her, but… maybe the best way to do that is involving Ashley.'

'I'm not about to invite her back on one act of kindness,' TJ shook his head.

'I'm with TJ, no rash decisions,' Cassie agreed.

'Zhane, I have compiled a file of the information you've requested,' Deca cut in, her voice sounding uncharacteristically gentle.

'Thank you, Deca,' Zhane answered. 'You all know my view on this point, so if anyone needs me, I'll be in my room.'


End file.
